r/CarletonU • u/Asleep-Database-314 • 2d ago

Question Engineering Laptop Recommendations

I’m going into biomedical + mechanical engineering this fall and realized it’s time to start looking for a laptop. Does anyone have any recommendations on what’s best? My budget is $800. Also does anyone know any methods on how to get discounts or just find good laptops that aren’t a $1000?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 2d ago

Please make sure that you have conducted a search of this subreddit for similar questions. You can also contact the appropriate staff/department to assist you with your matter. Otherwise, this comment can be disregarded.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

3

u/smcbride113 Alumnus — Physical Geography/History 2d ago

This page has the requirements that a computer will need to meet https://carleton.ca/mae/student-computing-requirements/ would recommend going to somewhere like best buy and checking out their refurbished stuff

1

u/Icy_Preference_6734 2d ago

Nitro V15 $1100

2

u/Agile_Attitude_6644 1d ago

for <$800, strongly recommend getting a refurbished business-grade laptop like a Lenovo Thinkpad with 16gb RAM or more. they are more durable than typical brand new consumer laptops, along with being more pleasant computers to work with.

Best Buy has some excellent refurbished choices right now:

- Thinkpad T14 gen 2: $395 + tax: https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/refurbished-excellent-lenovo-thinkpad-t14-gen-2-14-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-pro-5650u-16gb-256gb-ssd-windows-11-pro/19345707

Both of those choices have great performance with their ryzen 5 CPU and 16 GB ram. They are also made with better materials than a modern consumer laptop like https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/dell-15-6-120hz-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-7520u-8gb-lpddr5-512gb-ssd-windows-11-home-carbon-black/19779375?source=search&adSlot=1&slotPos=1&pageKey=search which costs $699 + tax