Best laptops for engineering students 2024

Why we like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED has a lot to offer. You’re getting reliable CPU performance, impressive graphics performance, good battery life, and a superb OLED touchscreen display. The $1,299.99 price tag isn’t bad either, especially for all of those features. The new Intel Ultra Core processor gives it the right amount of power to handle everything from engineering-specific programs to everyday tasks. It also weighs just under three pounds, which means you can take it with you from class to class.

Who should buy the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

Anyone who’s looking for a well-rounded laptop at a reasonable price. The 1800p display makes visuals look “razor sharp and feel pixel-free at arms length,” according to our review. The new Intel Ultra Core gives the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED a modest boost in power, but it’s not that much faster than previous iterations. The 75 watt-hour battery is also quite large, which is impressive given the slim profile of the machine, and should last you a full work day on a single charge.

Why we like the Acer Aspire 3

The Acer Aspire 3 laptop offers dependable performance at an affordable price. It’s fast enough for day-to-day tasks like checking e-mail, browsing the web, assembling code, and so on. You’re also getting a full-sized keyboard plus a 1080p screen. It even edged out the competition with a respectable Cinebench R15 score of 1,925, beating out the comparable Acer Aspire Vero 14. Cinebench, by the way, determines how well a laptop handles processor-intensive multi-threaded workloads by running all of the cores of a CPU.

Who should buy the Acer Aspire 3

Anyone who’s on a restricted budget! We feel as though the Acer Aspire 3 is a good option for students because of the low price tag and the good performance. The HD webcam also produces “clean, crisp video” according to our review, so you’ll always look your best in video calls, and the battery lasts about eight hours on a single charge. That’s more than enough battery life for a full day of learning!

Why we like the HP Pavilion Plus 14

The HP Pavilion Plus 14 gets a lot of things right. It delivers strong performance, a lightweight form factor, and the 1800p OLED display is stunning. According to our review, we were “impressed by the rich hues” and the fluid visuals as a result of the 48-120Hz variable refresh rate. It also earned a Cinebench R20 score of 3,416, which means it can handle heavy workloads such as video editing and encoding. That’s impressive for a laptop that weighs just a hair over three pounds.

Who should buy the HP Pavilion Plus 14

Anyone who’s looking to pick up a fast, affordable laptop with an OLED display. It’s peppy enough for everyday use as well as heavier workloads and the display provides smooth, colorful visuals. Sure, you could buy the more powerful Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED for $999, but it’s not as lightweight as the Pavilion Plus. If portability and power are at the top of your priority list, then the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is the one to pick.

Why we like the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition

The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is something of a unicorn and I mean that in the best way possible. It exhibits strong graphics performance as well as long battery life. Long battery life? A gaming laptop? How preposterous! Well, not anymore! The Asus TUF managed an incredible 11 and a half hours on a single charge. Also, thanks to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU inside, it achieved an impressive 123 frames-per-second in the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark. That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially for a sub-$1,000 gaming machine.

Who should buy the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition

The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is a good option for those on a tight budget. For under a grand, you’re getting reliable graphics performance, a spacious keyboard, and long battery life. It also works as a good general purpose machine, which is perfect for college students that want to work on homework during the day and then switch to gaming at night. With a Cinebench R20 score of 589, it should have “no trouble running lightweight apps and programs,” according to our review.

Note 3/1/2024: The recently reviewed Lenovo LOQ 15 is another good budget option. It comes with a slightly better GPU (RTX 4060). Despite getting a high rating, it didn’t make the cut because of poor battery life and limited connectivity options.

Why we like the HP Dragonfly G4

The HP Dragonfly G4 is so lightweight at just 2.64 pounds, it may very well float up into the clouds. It also boasts a whopping 17.5 hours of battery life, which means you don’t have to bother looking for an outlet. It also has the speed for working with engineering programs as well as surfing the web. This laptop is also well-equipped with ports despite its slender build. There are two Thunderbolt 4, one USB-A, one audio output/input, one HDMI, one security lock, and one nano SIM card slot.

Who should buy the HP Dragonfly G4

The HP Dragonfly G4 is the perfect machine for a college student with a busy schedule because of its low weight and slim profile. You can bring this laptop just about anywhere with you. The screen is taller due to the 3:2 aspect ratio, which means you don’t have to scroll as much. The fans also spin quietly even when under heavy workloads, so you don’t have to worry about the fans randomly revving up during an important lecture. The only caveat is the astronomical price tag. If you’re dealing with a more restricted budget, be sure to check out our best budget ultraportable option below.

Note 3/1/2024: Though we liked its compact form factor and 4G modem, the recently reviewed HP Elitebook 640 G10 couldn’t quite knock the HP Dragonfly G4 off of its pedestal. The display’s 16:9 aspect ratio isn’t the best size for productivity work and it doesn’t deliver strong contrast values. The HP Dragonfly G4, on the other hand, has a taller display and better contrast.

Why we like the Acer Swift Edge 16

The Acer Swift Edge 16 is lightweight, affordable, and powerful. It weighs just 2.71 pounds, which is a little heavier than our top ultraportable pick but not by much. The 2000p OLED screen is super vibrant and, according to our review, “delivers an infinite contrast ratio and deep inky black levels that produce convincing shadows in dark scenes.” It even turned in a strong PCMark 10 score of 6,494, beating out the more expensive Acer Swift Go 16. That means the Swift Edge 16 is capable of out-performing some machines that cost hundreds of dollars more.

Who should buy the Acer Swift Edge 16

If you’re looking for a lightweight ultraportable with strong performance, the sub-$1,000 Acer Swift Edge 16 is worth considering. It’s light enough to take with you from class to class and the spacious 16-inch display is fantastic for school work, watching movies, and so on. Sure, the design is a bit bland and battery life is a disappointing six to seven hours (still not an awful result), but if you can handle those minor shortcomings, then the Acer Swift Edge 16 is the right pick for you.