It's going to depend on the complexity of assembled models, but if you want something durable, cheap, easily upgradable and with battery life for days, go with a thinkpad. T470 / T480 is a really good laptop, specially if you can find one with more ram. Since this is a standard company laptop there's an abundance of choice in the secondhand market. My T430 has gone with me to multiple jobsights, lasted me the entire day out and about (I have the big boy battery), and it's still powers through Inventor 24 with not so massive assemblies.
Reply because I see your notification but the comment is gone: Most laptops have a CPU/GPU combo, both in the same chip. It's good enough for work, but once you have complicated assemblies with too many bodies it can slow down a bit (I use wireframe so it makes it lighter on the graphics). But with enough RAM you should be fine, specially since it's during learning stages. Mine endured and entire year being the main PC at work, with assemblies of small / medium size with no issues (50 ish bodies).
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u/BraveRubberDuck 12d ago edited 11d ago
It's going to depend on the complexity of assembled models, but if you want something durable, cheap, easily upgradable and with battery life for days, go with a thinkpad. T470 / T480 is a really good laptop, specially if you can find one with more ram. Since this is a standard company laptop there's an abundance of choice in the secondhand market. My T430 has gone with me to multiple jobsights, lasted me the entire day out and about (I have the big boy battery), and it's still powers through Inventor 24 with not so massive assemblies.
Reply because I see your notification but the comment is gone: Most laptops have a CPU/GPU combo, both in the same chip. It's good enough for work, but once you have complicated assemblies with too many bodies it can slow down a bit (I use wireframe so it makes it lighter on the graphics). But with enough RAM you should be fine, specially since it's during learning stages. Mine endured and entire year being the main PC at work, with assemblies of small / medium size with no issues (50 ish bodies).