Laptop Recommendations

Below is a list of laptops we here at ECS would recommend to any user who may be looking for a new system. The prices and availability of the items are subject to change and are not provided by ECS; these are just referrals. To see previously recommended configurations click here. If you have a problem with any of the items or would like to recommend one, click here.

The following laptops were chosen with the common SoE user's workload in mind. Applications such as Matlab, Comsol, Ansys, Solidworks, and many more require fast CPUs and a decent amount of RAM paired with a good graphics card. With this in mind laptops that ship with AMD Ryzen 5 and 7 CPUs offer the best price for performance. Those laptops with Ryzen 7 processors and 16+GB of RAM are suitable for research and other intense workloads.

Name Specifications Notes Price (USD)

Asus VivoBook 14 M413

AMD Ryzen 5 3500U
8GB DDR4 RAM
256GB PCIe SSD
14" 1920x1080 NanoEdge Display
Backlit Keyboard
WiFi 6

At the current listed price, this Asus Vivobook offers great value. Included features such as a full HD display, backlit keyboard, Wi-Fi 6 and plenty of processing power to get students through the majority of projects makes this an easy recommendation. 

$400.00

Lenovo IdeaPad 5

AMD Ryzen 7 4700U
8GB DDR4 2666 MHz RAM
256GB 2242 NVMe TLC SSD
14.0" FHD LED Backlit Anti-Glare 
Backlit Keyboard
Wi-Fi 6 

The Lenovo IdeaPad 5 offers some of the best value for money computing power available. The powerful and efficient Ryzen 7 4700U offers great performance making this laptop the perfect middle ground for a student who wants more computing power but does not want to spend extra for other features.

$589.00

Lenovo Flex 5

AMD Ryzen 7 4700U
16GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM
512GB NVMe SSD
14" 1920x1080 Touchscreen IPS LCD
Backlit Keyboard
2-in-1 Capabilities

The Lenovo flex 5 offers great value and versatility. Having the ability to be paired with a Lenovo active stylus, this device unlocks a new set of features, such as being used to take notes directly on-screen. 

$750.00

Dell G5 SE Ryzen 5

AMD Ryzen 5 4600H
AMD Radeon RX 5600M (6GB GDDR5)
8GB DDR4 3200MHz
256GB PCIe SSD
15.6" 1920x1080 
Backlit Keyboard
WiFi 6

This is a great value laptop for students that anticipate needing graphics processing power that exceeds what an integrated GPU is able to offer. The dedicated graphics will help students in 3D modeling/simulation applications found throughout the School of Engineering. This laptop also offers a possible upgrade path for the RAM (comes with a 2x4GB configuration) and storage should these be found to be insufficient. 

$850.00

Asus TUF Gaming A15

AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 8-Core
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti (4GB GDDR6)
16 GB 3200 MHz DDR4
512 GB M.2 NVMe PCIe
15.6" 144Hz 1920x1080 IPS
Backlit Keyboard

This laptop also offers all around great performance and value. This Laptop is recommended for student who want to take advantage of Nvidia proprietary features such as Cuda acceleration and NVENC encoding. 

$929.00

Dell G5 SE Ryzen 7

AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
AMD Radeon RX 5600M (6GB GDDR5)
16 GB DDR4 3200MHz
512 GB PCIe SSD
15.6" 144Hz 1920x1080
Backlit Keyboard
WiFi 6

This laptop offers all around excellent performance with latest generation technology. It has enough power to get all necessary jobs accomplished with ease while not overextending into very expensive price ranges. 

$1,050.00