Best laptops for engineers: When work requires a real workstation

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The high-end laptop market for engineering has narrowed recently. Just like with gamers, engineers pose one of the toughest design challenges for laptop makers. Engineering applications need plenty of memory, graphics horsepower, and large screens — all hurdles in designing stylish, lightweight laptops. The result is something of a tradeoff between performance and convenience. To be sure, not every engineer will make the same compromises, but there are a few laptops that stand out for use by engineers, depending on their specific needs.
So what’s the best laptop for an engineer? Here are a few great options, newly updated for 2015 — one of which will get the job done for you.

Lenovo ThinkPad W541

Lenovo has continued to innovate in the “lightweight” workstation category. The W541 features updated CPU options, including up to a 4th generation i7 Extreme CPU (i7-4940MX), and optional Nvidia Quadra K2100M discrete GPU. It’s about the same weight as the W540 it replaces, at 5.57 pounds, and still just over an inch thick — not much larger than a MacBook Pro 15. If you don’t need a monster GPU or the 32GB of RAM the W541 packs, its slightly sleeker sibling — the W550s — might be right for you. Both units can be equipped with 2880 x 1620 high-resolution displays, or a more classic 1080p version — all 15.6-inch. Both models feature a choice of 500GB hard drive or SSD. Obviously for performance running engineering applications an SSD is the preferred choice.
The W541 still doesn’t offer an HDMI or DisplayPort video output, opting instead for VGA and Thunderbolt ports. That may be a turnoff for those who don’t want to invest the extra time and effort in purchasing Thunderbolt peripherals. However, for those who need the ultimate in expansion capability, and want Thunderbolt’s high-speed 10Gbps transfer rate, it may be just the thing. For everyone else, fortunately, the W541 offers plenty of USB ports (2 USB3.0 and 2 USB 2.0), and an SD card reader. Automatic switching between integrated and discrete graphics helps the W541 claim a more-than-respectable 6+ hours of battery life. Or you can opt for the W550s which does include mini-DisplayPort along with VGA and 3 USB3.0 ports.
As befits a ThinkPad, the W541 comes with Intel’s vPro and a fingerprint reader. The system ships with either Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro 64. The W550s doesn’t have as many enterprise features, but is available with an optional touchscreen.

HP ZBook 15 and 17 G2 mobile workstations

Having made its reputation selling to engineers, HP is a natural when it comes to shopping for a portable workstation-class laptop. If accurate color and rugged construction are high on your list of requirements, the HP ZBook 15 with 15-inch display (or the larger and heavier 17-inch version the ZBook 17) will fit the bill. The tradeoff is a slightly heavier and larger machine (6.2 pounds for the 15-inch version and over 7.5 pounds for the 17-inch model) than the ThinkPad W541, even though the specs are similar. The ZBook 17 don’t offer the ultra-high-resolution displays of the ThinkPad or Dell models, but its 1080p panel is top notch and feature HP’s DreamColor technology. The G2 version of the ZBook 15 adds the option for a QHD (3200 x 1800 resolution) display.
Thunderbolt is also a feature on these models, allowing the connection of up to four displays. Unlike the ThinkPad, it also has a DisplayPort in addition to a VGA port. It also includes vPro and a fingerprint reader, along with a docking station connector on its underside. CPU options range up to the Core i7-4940MX, clocked at up to 3.1GHz (4.0GHz Turbo), with a range of Nvidia and AMD discrete GPUs available. The ZBooks come with a wide array of drive options, so you can mix hard drives with SSDs to get the balance of performance and storage capacity that is right for your needs. In particular, what HP calls the Z Turbo drive slot is a PCIe SSD for very-high performance.
Like Dell, HP not only offers Ubuntu Linux as an option in addition to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, but it will even ship you a ZBook with FreeDOS. When ordered with a quad-core processor, the ZBook will support up to 32GB of RAM, but if you get one with a dual-core CPU, it will only be able to use 16GB.

Dell Precision M3800 or XPS 15 Touch

While Dell’s flagship Precision M4800 goes head to head with beefy models like the ThinkPad W541 and ZBook 15, I’m focusing here on the lighter Precision M3800. The M3800 promises workstation power in a svelte 0.71-inch, 4.15-pound package. It has many of the newest bells and whistles, including an option for a Ultra HD, IGZO2, multi-touch display, fourth-generation Core i7, and an Nvidia Quadro discrete GPU. Storage options have been enhanced to include up to 1TB hard drive or SSD. The M3800 is still limited to 16GB of RAM, though, which keeps it from going head-to-head in performance with its larger and heavier competitors. For Linux lovers, you can order the M3800 with Ubuntu 14.04 SP1 as an alternative to Windows 7 Pro or Window 8.1 Pro.  tech
Gorilla Glass covers the multi-touch screen — still a bit of a novelty in the mobile workstation category, but valuable if you order the machine with Windows 8.1 pre-installed. The option for dual SSDs allows for maximum performance if you put them in a RAID0 configuration or allocate your swap and temp drives carefully. Like the other machines we’ve looked at here, Nvidia’s Optimus technology provides automatic switching between integrated and the discrete Quadro graphics. The M3800 is priced starting at around $2000. For those who don’t need the Quadro graphics and dual drives, the newest Dell XPS 15 models have almost identical specs otherwise.

What, no MacBook Pro?

For those who have gotten tired of seeing the MacBook Pro appear in nearly every “best of” list of laptops, you won’t find it here. For starters, many of the top engineering applications do not run on OS X. That includes industry-standard design tools Solidworks and Creo, although MATLAB and Mathematica do have native Mac OS X versions. Other software like LabVIEW runs on both, but offer more purchasing options for Windows. The situation is different for most software developers, for whom the MacBook Pro is a favorite. In addition, engineers who have large software components in their projects often find it easier to build and use open source projects under OS X — because of its Unix underpinnings — than under Windows.
The good news on this front is that support for both Windows and Linux on MacBooks has continued to improve, so they are gaining in popularity among engineers — who often use OS X for their productivity work and then Linux or Windows as needed for specific engineering applications.


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