Hey everyone,

I'm an incoming engineering freshman at Mississippi State this fall, and I'm trying to decide on a laptop before classes start.

I've looked at the Bagley College of Engineering's minimum requirements, but I'd rather buy something that will last all four years (and hopefully beyond) instead of just meeting the minimum specs.

From what I've heard, 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD are a good starting point, especially if I'll be using programs like SolidWorks, MATLAB, AutoCAD, CAD software, programming IDEs, and other engineering applications. I'm also a person who likes to have a lot of browser tabs and multitask pretty heavily.

My budget is around 2,000, but I'd prefer not to spend that much unless it's really worth it. I would like to stick around the 1,300-1,500 dollar range.

A few questions:
What laptop are you using, and what engineering major are you in?
Has Windows been a better choice than macOS for engineering classes at MSU?
Is a dedicated GPU worth getting, or is integrated graphics enough?
Are there any laptops you regret buying?
If you were starting over as a freshman, what would you buy today?

Right now I'm considering laptops like the Dell XPS 15/16, Lenovo ThinkPad P series, Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14/G16, and maybe the Framework Laptop, but I'm open to any recommendations. My no 1 choice right now is the Lenovo Legion 5i 16" Gaming Laptop (good specs and fits in the budget).

I'm looking for something with:
32 GB RAM
1 TB SSD
Good battery life
Reliable build quality
A great keyboard and trackpad
Enough performance to comfortably handle engineering software for the next four years
I'd really appreciate hearing from current students or recent graduates about what worked well (or didn't). Thanks!

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