Something more specific for the specific people. Here, I am going to show you the 33 best laptops in 2021 for chemical engineering students. Furthermore, I have also published a laptop buying guide focuses on the Chemical Engineering students. I suggest you read that If you haven't before. In that article, I have described the needs of specs based on the software and types of uses. The use of a laptop in chemical engineering comes when you are dealing with mathematical modeling, process simulation, and fluid dynamics computations.
List of the best laptops for chemical engineering students [Updated on 13 January 2021]
Here, I am going to show you the list of the laptops that I have tested by running the 19 chemical Engg-specific software along with the normal-uses like web browsing, programming, and emulator-running. All the above laptops are sorted based on the smooth performance first, followed by specs with a reasonable amount to buy. Furthermore, I have tested the battery life by running those 19 chemical engineering-specific software, Also note that no gaming performance has been measured.
The 33 best laptops in 2021 for chemical engineering students to buy:
| LAPTOPS | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Lenovo ThinkPad T490 | Buy Now | |
| Dell XPS 9370 | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 | Buy Now | |
| Acer Swift 5 | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (QHD display) | Buy Now | |
| LG Gram Thin and Light Laptop | Buy Now | |
| Dell Inspiron 7490 | Buy Now | |
| Mi Notebook Horizon Edition 14 (Core i7) | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad E14 (512GB SSD) | Buy Now | |
| Acer Swift 3 | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (Core i5) | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (Core i7) | Buy Now | |
| Dell Inspiron 7580 | Buy Now | |
| Asus VivoBook S14 S403JA | Buy Now | |
| HP 15s EQ0132AU | Buy Now | |
| Dell Inspiron 7570 | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S340 (15.6-inch display) | Buy Now | |
| Asus VivoBook S14 S433FL | Buy Now | |
| Dell Inspiron 3593 | Buy Now | |
| HP 15 15s Laptop | Buy Now | |
| HP Pavilion 14 laptop | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo IdeaPad S340 (14-inch) | Buy Now | |
| HP Pavilion 14 14-ce3065tu | Buy Now | |
| ASUS VivoBook S510 | Buy Now | |
| Asus VivoBook 15 X512 | Buy Now | |
| Asus ZenBook Flip 14 UM462DA | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo Ideapad S145 81MV00WRIN | Buy Now | |
| Lenovo Ideapad 330 81FK00DKIN | Buy Now | |
| Dell Inspiron 5570 | Buy Now | |
| HP T8TJG | Buy Now | |
| HP 14 14s-er0003TU | Buy Now |
Lenovo ThinkPad T490
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U Processor | 8MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 16GB DDR4 | Expandable up to 48GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 500 nits
- Battery: 50Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.55 kg (3.4 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.9 x 22.7 x 1.8 cms
- High performance
- Better multitasking
- Impressive and much brighter display
- Lightweight
- Faster storage
- Dedicated NVIDIA GPU
- Long-lasting battery
- Upgrade option for RAM
- Impressive tactile keyboard with backlit support
- The smooth and accurate Precision touchpad
- Pretty awesome screen color gamut
- All-around solid build to meet the military standards
- Highly durable
- Fingerprint reader
- Loud and clear speakers
- No thunderbolt port
- No DVD port
- Fingerprints magent
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run ANSYS software easily
- Run smooth Fluid-flow simulation on Flow-3D and CFD
- Web/Android/Desktop Programming
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine learning
Not only high specs, but also a brighter and color accurate display this laptop does have to provide you the great experience during designing the process and its simulation.
Dell XPS 13 9370
- CPU: 4GHz 4 Core 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U Processor | 8MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD 620 Graphics
- RAM: 2133MHz 16GB LPDDR3
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 13.3-inch 4K touch display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 497 nits
- Battery: 52Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 42 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.20 kg (2.6 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 30.43 x 19.81 x 1.17 cm
- High performance
- Impressive and color-accurate 4K touch display
- Long-lasting battery
- The laptop doesn't heat up
- Higher storage and RAM
- Lightweight
- Good tactile feedback keyboard with backlit
- Smooth and accurate precision touchpad
- Has thunderbolt ports
- Better thermal management
- Fingerprint reader
- Fingerprints don't really show up
- Display is pretty brighter
- Speakers are enough loud at max volume
- No dedicated GPU
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run smooth Fluid-flow simulation on Flow-3D and CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Web/Android/Desktop Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine learning
- Run ANSYS software
This Dell XPS 13 9370 laptop is powerful like Lenovo ThinkPad T490, but it gets the job done.
Its touchscreen display allows the better drag and drop of objects during process design. Furthermore, the display is one of the brightest display, reached 497 nits. Also, it is highly color accurate. This laptop is powered by very high-end CPU and an integrated GPU.
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14
- CPU: 4GHz 4 Core AMD Ryzen 7-7300U Processor | 4MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 20GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD touchscreen display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 250 nits
- Battery: 45Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 7 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.65 kg (3.64 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.8 x 22.9 x 1.79 cms
- Higher performance
- Impressive multitasking
- Faster storage
- Fingerprint reader
- Lightweight
- Smooth and accurate touchpad
- Good tactile feedback in keyboard
- Speakers are fairly loud
- Better thermal management
- Durable chassis
- Average brighter display
- Color gamut results are fine for chemical engineering tasks
- No thunderbolt port
- Quite a low screen color gamut
- No dedicated GPU
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run smooth Fluid-flow simulation on Flow-3D and CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Web/Android/Desktop Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine learning
- Run ANSYS software
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14 is an average to high-specs laptop for chemical engineering tasks. It has an average brighter display with color gamut. But, that's not a problem in process design, simulation, and modelling. It has 20GB RAM to provide you an outstanding multitasking compared to 16GB RAM laptops.
Acer Swift 5
- CPU: 1.3GHz 4 Core Intel Core i7-1065G7 Processor
- Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 16GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD touchscreen display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 296 nits
- Battery: 56Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 27 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 997g (2.2 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 31.75 x 21.08 x 1.52 cms
- High performance
- Average brighter but good color gamut display
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- Smooth and responsive touchpad
- Long-lasting battery
- Fingerprint reader
- Lightweight and thin
- Fast storage
- Better multitasking
- Loud and clear speakers at max volume
- No thunderbolt port
- No dedicated GPU
- Speakers are not enough loud at max volume
- Bad thermal management
- Fingerprints really show up
- Touchpad doesn't use the Precision drivers
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run smooth Fluid-flow simulation on Flow-3D and CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web/Android/Desktop Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine learning
- Run ANSYS software
Acer Swift 5 is one of the slimmest laptops I have tested for chemical engineers.
The display is average bright but no incredible and has impressive color reproduction capabilities. The 14-inch FHD touchpad display makes the process design work faster than average, speaking from my personal experience gained during distillation process design.
Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (QHD display)
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX250 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 13.3-inch QHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 313 nits
- Battery: 56Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 54 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.3 kg (2.9 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 29.69 x 20.86 x 1.59 cms
- Pretty standard performance
- Above an average brigher and higher contrast QHD display
- Enough good screen color gamut
- Display uses PWM to change the brightness
- Better thermal management
- Smooth and responsive touchpad
- Fairly long-lasting battery
- Dedicated Graphics
- Lightweight
- Fingerprints don't really show up on the aluminum interior
- No thunderbolt port
- Speakers are loud but less clear at maximum volume
- Up/Down arrow keys are small and badly placed
- Not a tactile keyboard
- Touchpad doesn't use the Precision drivers
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run smooth Fluid-flow simulation on Flow-3D and CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac/Desktop Programming
- Machine Learning
This Lenovo IdeaPad S540 has an QHD display with above an average brighter display and good color gamut.
The Core i5 processor comes with it isn't much powerful but gets the chemical engineering job done. The touchpad found accurately handling the gesture despite not using the precision drivers.
LG Gram Thin and Light Laptop
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U Processor
- Graphics: Intel Integrated Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel
- Battery: 72Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 7 hours and 9 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 0.995 kg (2.2 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.3 x 20.9 x 1.68 cms
- Fair performance
- Better multitasking
- Lightweigh
- Pretty sturdy and solid Mg-alloy build
- Longest battery life
- Average display with good screen color gamut
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate touchpad
- Thunderbolt ports
- Fingerprint reader
- Speakers are enough loud and clear
- Fingerprints don't really show up
- Bit more glossy display
- Speakers feel tiny at max volume
- No better cooling solution
- No dedicated GPU
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD (Performance is below an average)
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Web & Small-scale Android Programming
- Graphics editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS and Flow-3D
- iOS/Mac/Desktop Programming
- Machine Learning
- Video editing
The Mg-alloy chassis LG Gram laptop is one of the slimmest laptops with longest battery life I have tested. Because of the low specs, It isn't able to run ANSYS and Flow-3D. Also, CFD smoothly. In addition to that, the display feels bit more glossy than average laptop with glossy display I have tested.
Dell Inspiron 7490
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX250 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 306 nits
- Battery: 65Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 6 hours and 21 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.32 kg (2.9 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32 x 20.57 x 1.52 cms
- High performance
- Long-lasting battery
- Lightweight
- Brighter and good color gamut display
- Better multitasking
- Enough loud and very clear speakers
- Dedicated NVIDIA GPU
- Just 13-inch chassis - quite small for a laptop
- High and faster storage
- Thunderbolt port
- Good tactile keyboard
- A smooth, accurate, and pretty responsive touchpad
- Fingerprint reader
- Fast charging (80% in just 1 hour and 14 minutes)
- The touchpad is a bit more audible - sounds noisy
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD (Performance is below an average)
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac/Desktop Programming
- Machine Learning
This Dell Inspiron 7490 has magnesium-alloy build. It has enough high specs to tun Flow-3D and CFD.
And, it is coming with an ExpressCharge Technology that charges themachine to 80% in just 1 hour and 14 minutes. Overall, If you have no plan to use ANSYS, then this one is the best laptop for you.
Mi Notebook Horizon Edition 14
- CPU: 1.8GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U Processor
- Graphics: NVIDIA MX350 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 250 nits
- Battery: 48Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 17 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.35 kg (2.98 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.5 x 23.2 x 1.8 cms
- Read the full review here
- High performance
- The display has a large contrast ratio
- Better multitasking
- Enough loud and clear speakers
- Pretty average battery life
- Very thin bezels – just 3mm
- Fast storage
- Lightweight
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate touchpad
- Good thermal management
- No thunderbolt port
- A webcam is not integrated, rather comes separately
- More display flex
- Screen color gamut falls on poor side
- Keyboard looks messy
- The touchpad bent more than average when pressed
- Touchpad isn’t a precision unit
- Keys are giving inconsistent tactile feedback
- Below an average brighter display
- 2 Arrow keys are small and badly placed
- No Windows Hello support here
- CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run ANSYS, Flow-3D, and CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web/Android/Desktop Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- Gaming
- CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
The Mi Notebook Horizon 14 Edition has much high specs. Despite such heavy specs, this laptop cannot be used for content cration due to below an average brighter display. In addition to that, the inconsistent tactile feedback keyboard is really disappointing.
Also, there is a similar laptop available with a Core i5 processor with the almost same rest of the specs. Its specs are as follows. If you've no plan to use ANSYS software and Flow-3D then I prefer this laptop over the Core-i7 version. Because the Core-i5 version will do the job in the same smoother way.
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U Processor
- Graphics: NVIDIA MX250 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 250 nits
- Battery: 48Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 17 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.35 kg (2.98 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.5 x 23.2 x 1.8 cms
Lenovo ThinkPad E14
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Intel Integrated UHD Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 306 nits
- Battery: 45Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.69 kg (3.7 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.5 x 23.2 x 1.8 cms
- Ports: 1 USB Type-C Gen-1, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI 1.4b, 1 Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45), 1 3.5mm Audio/combo jack, and 1 Kensington lock
- Read the full review here (Core-i7 variant)
- High performance
- Pretty solid and sturdy build
- Faster SSD storage
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate precision touchpad
- Pretty average brighter display
- Higher screen contrast ratio
- Opens using just one finger
- Camera has a privacy shutter
- Speakers are enough louder
- Highest durability
- Enough bigger and well-placed 4 arrow keys
- Average battery life
- Fingerprint reader
- Silent fan
- No thunderbolt port
- Touchpad isn’t a precision unit
- Little poor camera and microphone
- No Windows Hello support
- Speakers aren’t clear
- Screen color gamut falls on the poor side
- Smooth matte surface does attract fingerprint
- A bit poor thermal management
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Android Programming with only 1 emulator in parallel
- Graphics editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac/Desktop Programming
- Run ANSYS and Flow-3D
- Machine Learning
- Video editing
This Lenovo ThinkPad E14 has slightly low-specs to run the chemical engineering software. It has pretty tactile keyboard. Its touchpad is found smooth, responsive, and accurate at gesture handling. But, because of having low-specs, it cannot run ANSY and Flow-3D. So, buy only if you have no plan to use them in future.
Read the full review of Core-i7 variant of ThinkPad E14 here.
There is also another similar laptop in specs than storage and battery life. The below laptop has a slightly lower battery life due to hard disk storage. The hard disk is slow in reading and write speed and consumes more power compared to SSD which has a way faster read/write speed and consumes less power. Its specs are as below.
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Intel Integrated UHD Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 306 nits
- Battery: 45Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 44 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.69 kg (3.7 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.5 x 23.2 x 1.8 cms
Acer Swift 3
- CPU: 1.0GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 238 nits
- Battery: 48Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 13 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.19 Kg (2.6 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32 x 21.7 x 1.6 cms
- High performance
- Lightweight
- Very thin bezels
- Average battery life
- Display has higher than average contrast ratio
- Fast storage
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- Smooth and responsive clickable touchpad
- Pretty solid all-metal build
- Has a thunderbolt port
- Fingerprint reader
- Dedicated Graphics
- Below an average bright display
- Bad placement of the Page Up/Down and arrow keys
- Page Up/Down and Arrow keys are too small led to miss press
- Poor screen color gamut
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web and Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac/Desktop Programming
- Run ANSYS and Flow-3D
- Machine Learning
This lightweight Acer Swift 3 laptop is powered by medium level specs hardware. The keyboard gives pretty tactile feedback.
And, the touchpad found smooth, responsive, and accurate despite not using Windows precision drivers. The display is below an average brighter with poor color gamut. But, not problematic for chemical engineers.
Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (Core i5)
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 300 nits
- Battery: 52.5Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 12 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.95 Kg (4.3 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.8 x 24.5 x 1.7 cms
- Long-lasting battery
- Small bezels
- 180-degree hinge
- Smooth switch between software
- Overall optimized powerful performance
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate precision touchpad
- Good tactile keyboard
- Lightweight
- Speakers are just okay and clear at max volume
- No Optical drive
- No thunderbolt port
- Touchpad below an average small
- 2 Arrow keys are smaller and not well-placed
- Below an average brighter display
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD and Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Desktop Programming
- Web and Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Run ANSYS
- Machine Learning
This Lenovo IdeaPad is different from the previous one in display specs.
This one has 15.6-inch FHD display which below an average brighter and has average color gamut results. The keyboard does give pretty nice tactile feedback. Touchpad will be impressive if the size was large otherwise fine. Except ANSYS, all the 17 chemical engineering specific software will run smoothly on this laptop.
Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (Core i7)
- CPU: 1.8GHz 10th Gen 4 Core Intel Core i7-10510U | 8 MB Smart cache
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce MX250 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS & anti-glare panel | 300 nits
- Battery: 52.5Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 49 minutes on DWSIM simulator
- Weight: 1.8 Kg (4 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.8 x 24.5 x 1.7 cms
- Read the full review here
- Small bezels
- 180-degree hinge
- Smooth switch between software
- Overall optimized powerful performance
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate precision touchpad
- Good tactile keyboard
- Lightweight
- Speakers are just okay and clear at max volume
- No Optical drive
- No thunderbolt port
- Touchpad below an average small
- 2 Arrow keys are smaller and not well-placed
- Below an average brighter display
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Desktop Programming
- Web and Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This Core-i7 version Lenovo IdeaPad S540 is powerful enough to run ANSYS on it. Furthermore, the 2GB NVIDIA MX250 GPU allows to run multiple graphics intensive tasks.
Read the full review of Lenovo IdeaPad S540 (Core i7) laptop here.
Dell Inspiron 7580
- CPU: 1.6GHz 8th Gen Intel Core i5 Processor
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX150 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inche FHD display | IPS panel | 237 nits
- Battery: 42Wh 1 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 58 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.87 kg (4.1 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 36.1 x 24.5 x 1.88 cm
- Higher performance
- 180-degree hinge
- Lightweight
- Small bezels
- Just okay keyboard
- A fairly adequate and responsive touchpad
- Speakers are just okay
- No optical drive
- Low battery life
- No thunderbolt port
- Below an average brighter display with poor color gamut results
- Arrow keys are small, also not well-placed
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD and Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Desktop Programming
- Web and Android Programming
- Graphics & Video editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This Dell Inspiron series laptop is looks premium in design. But, the laptop specs are not much impressive. Its keyboard is just okay. The tactile feedback isn't much impressive as it should be. But, the touchpad is fairly responsive and smooth despite not using Windows precision drivers.
Asus VivoBook S14 S403JA
- CPU: 1.0GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB cache, 3.6GHz Max.
- Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics
- RAM: 3733MHz 8GB LPDDR4X
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD + 32GB Intel Optane Memory
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel
- Battery: 72Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 7 hours and 41 minutes on DWSIM simulation.
- Wireless connectivity: 802.11ax 2×2 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
- Weight: 3lb (1.35kg)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.3 x 20.8 x 1.7 cms
- High performance
- Faster SSD storage
- Thunderbolt-3 port which also support Display port and power delivery
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- Smooth, responsive, and accurate precision-enabled touchpad
- Pretty solid and sturdy build
- Lightweight
- Fingerprint sensor with Windows Hello support
- Wide viewing angles display
- Intel Optane memory
- No dedicated GPU
- Average quality camera and microphone
- No Windows Hello support for camera
- Fingerprints show up but easy to clean
- Speakers are below-average loud
- Display is little below-average brighter
- Poor screen color gamut
- Small and very closely placed 4 arrow keys
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D
- iOS/Android Programming
- Desktop/Mac Programming
- Video Editing
- Machine Learning
This ASUS VivoBook S14 S403JA is not an incredible machine. During my testings, I have found that all of ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D weren't able to run on it. But, due to its average-quality display, I found it useful for the content creation for non-professionals. Its keyboard has nice tactile feedback to give. Also, the precision-enabled glass-surface touch found smooth, responsive, and accurate.
Read the full review of Asus VivoBook S14 S403JA laptop here.
HP 15s EQ0132AU
- CPU: 2.3GHz 4 Core AMD Ryzen 7 3700U Processor
- Graphics: AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 GPU
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | 220 nits
- Battery: 41Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 51 minutes on DWSIM simulator
- Weight: 1.77 kg (3.90 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.8 x 24.2 x 1.8 cms
- Much storage
- Lightweight
- High CPU clock speed
- Just smooth touchpad
- Speakre are fairly loud and clear at max volume
- Simple design
- No optical drive
- Low battery life
- No dedicated GPU
- Bad keyboard
- Keys travel very less distance
- Not much bright display
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D
- iOS/Android Programming
- Desktop/Mac Programming
- Video Editing
- Machine Learning
The HP 15s EQ0132AU isn't high-end machine to run the heavy chemical engineering software. When compared to the all above laptops I have tested, I found it little below an average in terms of keyboard, touchpad, and display. But, if you've no plan to use ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D, you can go for it. It cannot be helpful in content creation also.
Dell Inspiron 7570
- CPU: 1.8GHz 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8550U Processor | 8MB Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX130 4GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 16GB DDR4
- Display: 15.6-inch UHD display | IPS panel
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Battery: 42Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 35 minutes on DWSIM simulator
- Weight: 2.16 kg (4.76 pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 36.14 x 24.45 x 1.88 cm
- Impressive Ultra-HD display
- Accurate touchpad
- Attractive design
- Overall performance
- Keys have tactile feedback
- Enough space between the keys
- 180-degree hinge
- No optical drive
- No thunderbolt port
- Not a smooth interior
- Bit heavy
- Speakers are loud at max volume but below an average in quality
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
The Dell Inspiron 7570 is pretty attractive laptop. It has also high-end specs like Core-i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and NVIDIA MX130 GPU. It is able to run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D. At the same time, the keyboard is also pretty tactile and a touchpad is smooth.
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 (15.6-inch display)
- CPU: 1.0GHz 10th Gen 4 Core Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX250 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 | Expandable up to 12GB
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-Glare panel
- Battery: 52.5Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 7 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
- Weight: 1.79 kg (3.95 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.8 x 24.5 x 1.8 cms
- Near to fair performance
- Dedicated GPU
- Long-lasting battery
- Expansion option for RAM
- 180-degree hinge
- Well responding smooth touchpad to gestures
- Keys have 2-level backlit
- No thunderbolt port
- Below an average and a color-accurate display
- Bad tactile keyboard
- Worst placement of Up/Down arrow keys
- Disappointing speakers
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This IdeaPad S340 is not much powerful engineering laptop. It has a Core-i5 CPU with NVIDIA MX250 2GB GPU. The specs are just average. In addition to that, keyboard and touchpad are also not impressive.
Asus VivoBook S14 S433FL
- CPU: 1.6GHz 10th Gen 4 Core Intel Core i5-10210U Processor | 6MB Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX250 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD | Also expansion slot is available
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-Glare panel
- Battery: 50Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 11 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
- Weight: 1.4 kg (3.08 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.49 x 21.35 x 1.59 cms
- Fair enough performance
- Impressive color-accurate display
- Good keyboard with tactile feedback
- A smooth, responsive, and accurate precision touchpad
- Long-lasting battery - above an average
- The best placement of fingerprint reader
- Lightweight
- Dedicated GPU
- High strength compared to Mg-alloy build
- Option for SSD expansion
- No thunderbolt port
- Quick Charge technology isn't much useful
- Small and bad placement of arrow keys
- Distracting green color highlighted Enter key
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD and Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This Asus VivoBook S14 S433FL has pretty impressive display for content creation. It is lightweight and medium-specs laptop. During my testings, I found something weird that this laptop was able to run CFD and Flow-3D very smoothly.
The keyboard has prettty tactile fedback to give and a touchpad is smooth and responsive enough.
Dell Inspiron 3593
- CPU: 1.0GHz 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 4MB Cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX230 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | TN panel
- Battery: 42Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 22 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 2 kg (4.4 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 38 x 22.58 x 2.27 cms
- Fair performance
- Slightly above an average battery
- Dedicated GPU
- Pretty tactile keyboard
- A smooth and responsive touchpad
- No thunderbolt port
- Low display contrast and bad viewing angles
- Less bright display
- Poor screen color gamut
- Bad cooling solution with only a single fan
- The Interior is a fingerprint magnet and hard to clean
- Heavy
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, Flow-3D
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
Dell Inspiron 3593 has something more disappointing than impressive. The plastic unibody lead to more flex on keyboard and display both. Among the many poor things, It has a pretty tactile keyboard and smooth and responsive touchpad. Although, the touchpad is made of plastic. And, the display also has no IPS panel, So, not good viewing angles compared to IPS display.
HP 15 15s Laptop
- CPU: 1.0GHz 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX130 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS panel
- Battery: 41Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 49 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.76 kg (3.88 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.9 x 24.2 x 2 cms
- Fair performance
- Average weight
- Not a bad display
- Dedicated GPU
- The keyboard isn't clicky
- Touchpad is disappointing
- No thunderbolt port
- Less than average battery life
- Speakers are not loud at max volume
- Poor thermal management
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This HP 15 15s laptop isn't much good and comes at a low price. This laptop doesn't look premium like Lenovo Laptops. It has a Core-i5 processor with old version of MX series NVIDIA GPU. With 8GB of RAM, you gonna enjoy multitasking, but overall I am just disappointed with this laptop. Since, I have issues with CFD and Flow-3D. ANSYS hasn't even installed due to low-specs.
HP Pavilion 14 laptop
- CPU: 1.6GHz 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U Processor
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA MX150 2GB GDDR5 Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS panel
- Battery: 41Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 51 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
- Weight: 1.6 kg (3.53 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.7 x 22.2 x 1.8 cms
- Fair performance
- Slightly Lightweight
- High and fast storage
- Dedicated GPU
- Better thermal management
- No thunderbolt port
- The display isn't bright and color accurate
- Bad tactile feedback
- The touchpad is smooth and responsive but not accurate
- Below an average battery life
- Speakers are not great
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This HP Pavilion 14 laptop is an entry-level machine for chemical engineering students. Though it has a dedicated GPU, SSD storage, and a Core-i5 CPU, it's not able to run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D.
Lenovo IdeaPad S340 (14-inch)
- CPU: 1.0GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 220 nits
- Battery: 52.5Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 5 hours and 36 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.55 kg (3.42 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.3 x 23 x 1.8 cms
This Lenovo Ideapad S340 has the same build material with keyboard, touchpad, and display (not a size here) quality including the speakers to Lenovo IdeaPad S340 (15.6-inch) laptop. But, the performance and battery life are changes. Moreover, similar to the 15.6-inch version, this one has no thunderbolt port.
This Lenovo IdeaPad S340 14-inch laptop is powered by the Intel Core i5 processor with Intel integrated GPU. Such low specs aren't enough to run ANSYS and Flow-3D. But, unlike its 15.6-inch version, this laptop isn't able to run CFD due to no high-end graphics. But, the rest of the 16 major popular software were run smoothly. The 52.5Wh battery lasted for 5 hours and 36 minutes which is quite more than a 15.6-inch model. And, it is also lightweight compared to its brother.
HP Pavilion 14 14-ce3065tu
- CPU: 1.0GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics
- RAM: 2666MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 221 nits
- Battery: 41Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 47 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.59 kg (3.50 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.7 x 22.6 x 1.8 cms
- Fair performance
- Average weight
- High and fast storage
- Above an average battery life
- Good viewing angles display
- Keyboard has backlit
- Speakers are good but not incredible
- No thunderbolt port
- Display brightness is below an average
- Poor screen color gamut
- Keyboard has no tactile feedback
- The touchpad is smooth and responsive but not accurate
- Up/Down arrow keys are too small and poorly placed
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- Android Programming
- Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Integrated Graphics. So, such specs are not enough to run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D. But, the other 16 CH-Engg software will definitely run smoothly. The 41Wh battery lasted for 4 hours and 47 minutes during DWSIM simulation. So, overall pretty nice if you have no plan to use the main three software that I have mentioned earlier.
ASUS VivoBook S510
- CPU: 4GHz 4 Core 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U Processor | 8MB Smart Cache
- Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS & Anti-glare panel | 238 nits
- Battery: 42Wh Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 43 minutes on DWSIM simulator.
- Weight: 1.61 kg (3.56 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 36.07 x 24.13 x 1.78 cms
- Fair performance
- A high amount of storage
- Lightweight
- Better thermal management
- Pretty impressive design
- Fingerprint reader
- Low screen color gamut
- Less bright display
- Overall disappointing keyboard
- Smooth touchpad doesn't support all gestures
- No dedicated GPU
- Poor battery life
- No thunderbolt port
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Android Programming with no Emulators
- Graphics Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- Android Programming with emulators in parallel
- Video Editing
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
Asus VivoBook S510 has Core-i7 processor with no dedicated GPU. Hence, the graphics intensive task won't run on this machine. In my tests, I have found that it's not possible to run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D smoothly.
Asus VivoBook 15 X512
- CPU: 1.0GHz 10th Gen 4 Core Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB Smart cache
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce MX330 2GB GDDR5
- RAM: 3200MHz 8GB DDR4 | Expandable up to 12GB
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | TN panel
- Battery: 37Wh 2 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 1 hour and 58 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
- Weight: 1.75 kg (3.86 pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 35.7 x 23 x 2 cms
- High performance
- High storage
- Medium weight
- Expandable RAM
- Dedicated GPU
- Fingerprint reader
- Pretty low battery life than average
- Bad viewing angles display
- Low screen color gamut
- Less bright display with a low contrast ratio
- The plastic body led to more flex in the keyboard than average
- No thunderbolt port
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD anf Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5 CPU with NVIDIA MX330 2GB GPU. So, the specs are pretty high but such specs won't able to run ANSYS and Flow-3D. But, CFD has run without lag, thanks to its GPU. The 37Wh battery lasted for 1 hour and 58 minutes during DWSIM simulation - too low battery life than other laptops I have tested. Furthermore, this laptop has no thunderbolt port which means no way to transfer the data at 40Gbps speed.
Asus ZenBook Flip 14 UM462DA
- CPU: 2.1GHz 4 Core AMD Ryzen 5-3500U Processor | 6MB Smart cache
- Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Vega 8
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD touch display | IPS panel
- Battery: 42Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 2 hours and 29 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
- Weight: 1.6 kg (3.53 pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.2 x 21.5 x 1.9 cms
- Fair performance
- Good touch display with a nice color gamut
- High and fast storage
- Feels medium weight
- Comfortable keyboard with pretty clicky keys
- Smooth precision touchpad
- 2-in-1 convertibility without detaching a display
- No thunderbolt port
- No dedicated GPU
- Speakers are not up to the mark
- Quite low battery life
- Bad placement of Up/Down arrow keys
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Android Programming with no Emulators
- Graphics Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- Android Programming with emulators in parallel
- Video Editing
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This slim laptop is powered by AMD Ryzen-5 processor which is nearly equivalent to Intel Core i5, with AMD Radeon Vega 8 GPU. So, you gonna definitely not able to run ANSYS, Flow-3D, and CFD. But, the rest of the software were run smoothly. The 42Wh battery lasted for 2 hours and 29 minutes which is the lowest compared to the other laptops I have tested. So, If you have battery concerns, better to go with Lenovo IdeaPads, ThinkPads, Dell XPS 9370 and Inspiron-series laptops.
Lenovo IdeaPad S145
The higher specs laptop with low battery and graphical performance!
- CPU: 1.6GHz 8th Gen 4 Core Intel Core i5-8265U Processor | 6MB Smart cache
- Graphics: Intel integrated graphics
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display
- Battery: 35Wh 2 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 2 hours and 5 minutes during DWSIM simulation
- Weight: 1.85 kg (4 pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 36.2 x 25.1 x 2 cm
- Read the full review here
- Fair performance
- Pretty sturdy plastic build
- 180-degree hinge
- Faster SSD storage
- Silent fan
- Speakers are enough loud
- Smooth and responsive touchpad
- No thunderbolt port
- No dedicated GPU
- Below-average camera and microphone quality
- No Windows Hello support
- Fingerprints do show up
- Keyboard is inconsistent in tactile feedback
- Low bright display
- Screen color gamut falls on the poor side
- Poor battery life
- Touchpad isn’t Windows Precision unit
- Inaccurate gestures handling
- Little below-average thermal management
- Bad placement of Enter-key
- Can do
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web/Desktop Programming
- Android Programming without emulators
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- Android Programming with emulators in parallel
- Video Editing
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This Lenovo IdeaPad is powered by the Intel Core i5 processor. The high-graphical tasks are disappointing. Our tests of the chemical engineering-specific software revealed that ANSYS's software won't run.
Furthermore, Flow-3D's performance was disappointing. So, overall this laptop is not for those who are going to use it on-the-way due to its low battery life. The battery is just a 35Wh battery and lasted for 2 hours and 5 minutes during DWSIM simulation.
Read the full review of Lenovo IdeaPad S145 laptop here.
Lenovo IdeaPad 330 81FK00DKIN
All it lacks is an SSD storage in this mid-budget high-end specs laptop!
- CPU: 2.3GHz 4 Core 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8300H Processor | 8MB Smart cache
- Graphics: Dedicated NVIDIA GTX 1050 4GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS panel
- Battery: 45Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 4 hours and 23 minutes during DWSIM simulation
- Weight: 2.2 kg (4.85 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 37.8 x 26 x 2.3 cm
- Nice look
- Overall performance
- 180-degree hinge
- Pretty fine display
- No optical drive
- No SSD
- No thunderbolt port
- Bad keyboard and touchpad
- Speakers are loud with a little bass
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD anf Flow-3D
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web & Android Programming
- Graphics & Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5 and NVIDIA GTX 1050 4GB graphics. So, our tests to run that software found one common thing - They are not loading fast while launching. But, Since it has higher specs CPU, apart from ANSYS's and Flow-3D software, all ran without lag. Furthermore, the loading of the parallel project was pretty disappointing due to a slow HDD. It has no SSD storage, and the HDD has only 5400 RPM. The HDDs are always slow in loading the files.
Dell Inspiron 5570
- CPU: 2.29 GHz 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor
- Graphics: Discrete AMD Radeon-530 4GB GDDR5
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 2TB 5400RPM HDD
- Display: 15.6-inch FHD display | IPS panel
- Battery: 42Wh 4 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for roughly 4 hours and 27 minutes during DWSIM simulation
- Weight: 2.12 kg (4.7 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 38 x 25.8 x 1.9 cm
- Higher storage
- Smooth touchpad
- No SSD
- No 180-degree hinge
- No backlit keyboard
- Disappointing GPU performance
- The Interior is a fingerprint magnet
- More display flex
- Very low color gamut display
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS, CFD and Flow-3D
- Android Programming
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
- Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
This laptop is powered by Intel Core-i5 CPU and AMD Radeon-530 4GB graphics. So, my tests on this one left me with a thought that It would be great if it has at least 128 GB SSD storage. Furthermore, you can't run ANSYS's software on it. I have encountered issues while launching large projects on this software.
HP T8TJG
Wanna touchscreen laptop with high-end specs, Here it is!
- CPU: 1.6GHz 4 Core 8th Gen Intel i5-8250U Processor
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4
- Storage: 2TB 5400RPM HDD + 128GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch touchscreen HD display | IPS panel
- Battery: 42Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 12 minutes during DWSIM simulation
- Weight: 2.2 kg (4.85 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 38 x 25.37 x 2.39 cms
- Much storage with SSD
- Overall performance
- Touchscreen display
- No 1080p screen
- Quite low battery life
- Bad touch response
- No dedicated GPU
- No backlit on the keyboard
- Just okay touchpad
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Android Programming without Emulators
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS and Flow-3D
- Android Programming with Emulators in parallel
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
- Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
The laptop is powered by the 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Ultra-HD graphics 620. And it has an SSD! My tests revealed that ANSYS's software and Flow-3D weren't running on it. Although the switching between apps was quite smooth thanks to its 8GB DDR4 RAM. Furthermore, The project files were loading very fast, thanks to its SSD storage. So, overall this laptop will be pretty awesome for you if you are going to use it on the desk all the time.
HP 14 14s-er0003TU
- CPU: 1.1GHz 4 Core 10th Gen Intel i5-1035G1 Processor | 6MB Cache
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620
- RAM: 2400MHz 8GB DDR4 | Expandable up to 16GB
- Storage: 1TB 5400RPM HDD + 256GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- Display: 14-inch FHD display | IPS panel | 231 nits
- Battery: 41Wh 3 Cell Li-ion battery | Lasted for 3 hours and 48 minutes during DWSIM simulation
- Weight: 1.51 kg (3.33 Pounds)
- Laptop dimensions: 32.4 x 22.5 x 1.9 cms
- Average performance
- Lightweight
- RAM expansion option available
- Hybrid storage
- No thunderbolt port
- No dedicated Graphics chip
- Display brightness is below an average
- Quite disappointing screen color gamut
- The keyboard has a bad tactile keyboard
- Smooth touchpad handle the gestures inaccurately
- Battery life is below an average
- Disappointing sound of speakers at maximum volume
- WHAT IT CAN DO
- Process design and simulation smoothly on DWSIM and AspenPlus software
- Run CFD
- Sci-Lab/MATLAB Programming
- Web Programming
- Android Programming without Emulators
- Graphics Editing
- WHAT IT CAN'T DO
- Run ANSYS and Flow-3D
- Android Programming with Emulators in parallel
- iOS/Mac Programming
- Machine Learning
- Video Editing
- Desktop Programming
This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5 CPU with Intel HD 620 GPU. So, no ways to run ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D. Hence, plan to buy this laptop according to the software you want to use now or in the future. The 41Wh battery lasted for 3 hours and 48 minutes during DWSIM simulation. The battery life seems below an average compared to Dell XPS 9370, Lenovo ThinkPad T490, Dell Inspiron 7570, and LG Gram. Lastly, the 2 down-firing speakers are also disappointing due to unclear sound and little bass present at maximum volume.
How the laptops are selected for you?
As the goal is to find the best laptops for chemical engineering students and professionals, I have found out and listed them according to the software you're going to use on it.
As mentioned in my Laptop Buying Guide written specifically for chemical engineering students, I have tested all 19 software mentioned in that guide on these laptops and, shown the results that the laptop you're going to buy is capable enough to run it or not.
Among the 19 software, the major software are ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D. Although Aspen Software(s) are also high-level ones, they have no requirements for the high-end specs in a laptop. So, I have installed and tried to run all of the software in the trial version. So, many laptops are here in this article, in which ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D are not even installed due to low specs, but some laptops like Dell XPS 9370, Lenovo ThinkPad T490, Acer Swift 5, and Mi NoteBook Horizon 14 Edition were run it smoothly.
So, by doing such tests, I have shown you that don't buy a laptop if you're going to use the software is not capable of running on it. Also, the battery life mentioned by the manufacturers is not the exact one. For example, to test the battery life and thermal management, I have used the DWSIM simulator. DWSIM simulator is the software in which tens of hundreds of process sets and lists of the organic chemicals. So, You have to arrange the chemical equipment like Distillation, Absorption columns, Heater and Cooler, Energy sources, and many more to design the process and to simulate it before applying it to the real-world experiment. Also, DWSIM supports drag and drop, So using a touchscreen laptop to design the process was an awesome experience for me.
In addition to that, to develop a process model, I have used Microsoft Excel, SciLab, and MATLAB (A trial version). So, such software requires long-term programming, which means, the keyboard and touchpad should feel comfortable. Hence, by such testings, I have shown that whether the keys are clicky or not, whether the touchpad is smooth, responsive, and accurate to handle the gestures. So, by doing process designing, simulation, and mathematical modeling, I have tested battery life, laptop performance, and thermal management.
In my testings, I have found that laptops with 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA MX250 or more GPU with 2GB of at least Graphics memory, and Intel Core i7 or above or AMD Ryzen 7 or above version CPU specs can run the all 19 software including the ANSYS, CFD, and Flow-3D.
Also, note that the display quality doesn't matter in the laptop selection for this field of engineering. But, I have tried to provide you the display with an IPS & Anti-glare panel. So, you will get a better viewing angles display. There are two laptops in this article that have a TN panel display, they are Dell Inspiron 3593 and Asus VivoBook 15. If you don't know what's the difference between TN and IPS panel, and how it will affect the display quality, see the below picture.
Also, note that Dell XPS 9370 and Lenovo ThinkPad T490 were able to run ANSYS and CFD, ANSYS and Flow-3D, and CFD and Flow-3D in parallel without a single lag.
Also, read Why Thanalysis recommends Amazon to buy a laptop online?
Also, I have written an article that best describes the laptop's specs in easy-to-understand language. So, that's all I wanted to convey on the best laptops to buy in 2021 for the chemical engineering students.
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