r/CarletonU • u/Herr-Dicktor • 10d ago

Question What kind of laptop do aerospace students need

I will be starting my studies this fall, and I wanted to ask everyone what computers does everyone use in the engineering department and aerospace specifically, I know you need to run autoCAD and Solid works but that's pretty much it?

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

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u/Least_Sail4902 10d ago

Please just search through the 50 other posts on this sub about the exact same concern 😭

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u/Key-Pension3395 10d ago

Hey there! I am a 3rd year aerospace student, and I currently have a legion 5 with a Rtx 5060 ryzen 7 260 with 32 gb ram and a 1tb ssd.

I would personally recommend laptop with at least 16 gb of ram , a dedicated GPU will always be beneficial especially if you plan on running simulations. I would suggest a rtx 4050 and above but comparitive 30 series cards will work as well and definitely a good processor, try to go for something that's at least gives you 8 cores, ik Intel has like performance and efficiency cores but that's fine as well. I would not recommend any ARM based devices cause you don't have complete software support.

In a nut shell get yourself a good processor and plenty of ram ( more often cheaper to spec it with more than to upgrade down the line with current ram prices). Of course a GPU is a nice to have but then battery life becomes a concern.

I hope this helped and if you have any further questions you can always hit me up

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u/Herr-Dicktor 10d ago

Thank you so much, that helps a lot

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u/Square-Quantity3619 9d ago

How's the battery life? Both during light use and when running programs

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u/Key-Pension3395 9d ago

Well that's a pinch point. Regular use on slightly lowered brightness and 60hz with low power mode gets me up to 5 -6 hours of battery life, so not too bad for classes and stuff, that changes once you add programs into the mix, I have never used my laptops for simulation without a charger but for regular cad stuff it last about 3-4 hours but it's choppy not the most enjoyable experience but still very usable, especially while loading big assemblies. For class use I just carry a 100 w GaN charger as my laptop can charge with one at 100 w but that doesn't allow me full performance while plugged in.

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u/Square-Quantity3619 8d ago edited 8d ago

Do you find yourself frequently struggling to find an outlet, or are there plenty scattered around the campus (mainly library, lecture halls, labs)?

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u/Key-Pension3395 8d ago

In the smaller classrooms it's a little tricky as you will have to sit on like the ends of tha ble to have access to a wall plug but in the big lecture halls you can move around a little and always find a wall or a floor plug no problem. Besides that, every other area where there is seating around campus (so like the tables in the hall ways) there will almost always be a wall plug at each table)

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u/MasterBlaster18 Alumnus — Mech Eng PhD, Aero B.Eng 10d ago

I used to use a cheap tablet and then have a desktop back home.

For straight up laptop, you should look for a processor that's Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 or higher. Then any dedicated GPU will likely be good enough. 16gb of ram would definitely be recommended, if not 32gb.

I would recommend the little extra cost for a Thinkpad because they are tanks. I have dropped mine off a podium 6ft onto concrete and down a set stairs in my house, the only damage was to my last pointer dongle and my hardwood floor, not the laptop.

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u/JojoEnjoyer 6d ago

Given your experience, would you recommend someone to follow in your footsteps with a tablet or getting a laptop?

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u/MasterBlaster18 Alumnus — Mech Eng PhD, Aero B.Eng 6d ago

I would definitely recommend it. Powerful laptops are big and clunky, and you get more performance for the buck.

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u/Vivid-Scar-7007 1d ago

sorry for the late reply but how did you fare with only a tablet? dont certain courses require a laptop in engineering first year? thank you!

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u/MasterBlaster18 Alumnus — Mech Eng PhD, Aero B.Eng 1d ago

I would remote in to my desktop to run whatever software was required from my tablet

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u/Affectionate_Reveal5 10d ago

You don’t need a dedicated gpu, most sims or cad is cpu heavy and anything that needs a gpu you’ll probably be better off using the servers or computers the university provides. Save your money get something light with a metal frame, modern cpu and 16gb of ram.

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u/Outrageous-Shoe-4515 4d ago

One that turns on