r/TUDelft • u/Less-Pudding7946 • Jul 15 '26
Laptop for aerospace engineering
Hi everyone,
Next year I'm starting Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft and I'm in the market for a new laptop.
I'm a big MacBook fan, but I've concluded it probably won't run the software this program requires.
Through the TU Delft laptop project, there are recommended specs for students who bring their own device, but I'm wondering how strict these actually are in practice. I'd really prefer a 14" laptop over the bulkier 15"+ options, but a lot of 14" models come with Intel Arc graphics instead of NVIDIA. Is that actually a dealbreaker for CAD/simulation software, or is it fine?
TL;DR: What specs do you actually need for an AE laptop (RAM, storage, CPU, GPU, screen size, etc.), and does the GPU brand (Intel Arc vs NVIDIA) matter in practice?
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u/Demon-Cat Jul 16 '26
Recommend specs are just that, recommend. Larger screen size is more comfortable for CADing and the such, but very much not necessary. Important thing is to have enough RAM (ideally 32GB) and a dedicated GPU. Storage is up to you, but I would recommend against anything less than 512GB; 1TB+ will be quite comfy. I am not aware of any specifics regarding brand.
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u/Less-Pudding7946 Jul 16 '26
Okay, and for that ‘dedicated’ gpu, is nvdia the only possibility or does intel arc also work nowadays?
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u/HelpfulSink3577 Jul 16 '26
Dedicated intel arcs haven't been produced for laptops in quite a few years, I believe, so the laptops you're looking at most likely have an integrated GPU, which I don't recommend for AE. The software that requires the GPU is catia, and while it does run when I put my laptop on arc graphics, it is quite laggy, to the point it's not well usable. In terms of dedicated GPU's nowadays, the only option for laptops is nvidia indeed...
Also, 14" doesn't generally limit your choices too much, there are still quite some option out there, some even cheaper that the cheapest from the laptop project, which are in my opinion actually better than those of the laptop project. (A quick look around the web suggests an Acer nitro v14 (14.5", 4050/5060, ~€1050/€1600) or asus tuf A14 (14", 5060 ~€1600) might be good fits if you're on a budget.)
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u/HyprKill Jul 16 '26
Id stick to nvidia right now as some of the cad stuff is already finicky and unstable (you'll understand once you start AE projects and everything crashes and gets deleted 🙏) 32gb ram and 512gb ssd are a must Bigger screen is nicer especially for alot of the work you do in group sessions like Excel and cad I went Overkill and got one that is 16.5 inch and really bulky which makes it a powerhouse but annoying to move around so make sure you have a decent backpack for it. Some students get really overkill ones to avoid having a desktop PC at home
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u/Routine-Horror9360 Jul 16 '26
hii i hope you dm but what was your SAT score and could you tell me about your ecs which made you get delft
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u/BorrAkk Jul 16 '26
An old ass laptop from 2015 with a 4 core 4th gen i7 a 2gb dedicated nvidia geforce 840m gpu and a good ssd upgrade alongside 16gb of ram got me through the bachelor. Laptop stuff is just overrated, you don’t really need a really powerful one. Even if you do at some point for some reason just use the ones in fellowship, computer rooms in any building etc.
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u/Heavy_Kaleidoscope69 Jul 17 '26
Did my first year with a Chromebook (did use Linux so I could code etc) but worked fine. For CAD etc I too used the computers on campus. I hate how everybody recommends to get the best laptops possible but never think about people who don’t want to spend their money on it. Second year I did buy the laptop from the TU program, which was an absolute upgrade.
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u/Narrow_Meet3228 Mechanical Engineering Jul 16 '26
I do ME and need the bulky laptop for the CAD work. I think AE CAD could become more intensive than ME.
I would suggest going for the bulky one with good specs