Laptop recommendation for Engineer

[raburgess1]

Hi,

I am a structural engineer and currently looking at purchasing a laptop so that I am able to work from home when needed. I currently work with small 3D models (typically less than 50MB) on Revit 2015 so the minimum laptop specification would be based on this as this requirement. Aside from this I would also like to use the laptop for personal use which would be listening to music, watching movies etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I have been scrolling the internet for a week now and going to and from certain laptops so I thought it would be better to ask a very knowledgeable community instead to help me out.

The upper limit of my budget would be £1000 but realistically I'd be hoping that I could spend around £750-£850. If there is something out there that is under this budget and is suitable then i'd be happy also.

 

[hang-the-9]

Since you will be doing this for professional work and not school I am going to assume that the system you work on will need to be certified for the applications.

You want to look at the workstation models with Quadro or Fire GL video cards then.

Lenovo W series, HP Z Book, Dell Precision M. Probably others but those are the ones I know of and worked with.

If you don't mind used, a Lenovo W520 would be good, very reliable and I like the screen better on them than on the HP Z models. Would also be half the cost of a new one and they have 3 year warranties so a 2 yr old W520 you still have a year of warranty. Most Lenovo W and T series I work on have lasted way longer than 3 years, I have used 10 year old T41 and 42 models that feel like new.

 

[Eximo]

We use Dell M6800 at work, can't remember which Quadro card we have though, but we usually settle for 3rd best on the market.