Laptop or desktop build?

[Pontiackid73]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

New guy to the forum and I could use some help...well a lot of help. Even that is an understatement. I will preface this post saying I know nothing about computers but i am interested in learning.

Currently an engineering student and my needs for computing power have outgrown my budget ( junk ) laptop. So I am in the market for something powerful.

What I would like is a Laptop that can run all of my software such as Solidworks, Catia, Matlab, and other complex analysis and modeling programs without having a problem. Also something that can play movies and general things like that.

Having a laptop is preferred so that it is transportable but i am not completely opposed to a desktop. Mainly because i haven't found a laptop under 1500 that will do what i want ( to my knowlegde ) and from what i read building a desktop is cheaper and i would have a better unit, just minus portability. Building my own is a whole can of worms in itself because i know nothing about it. I learn quickly so I'm not to worried about it though. However assembly is one thing but selection of parts is another. Thats where i could really use help. Budget for the piece is under a grand. I already have a tv i will use as the monitor, so just the tower and anything else that goes with it. So if you guys could steer me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[Macmaster4k2]

in your case, i personally would go with a computer build since you would most likely need a good processor and a good graphics card that can render your software smoothly. Laptops have decent graphics but draw power from the processor and can make your programs run choppy. pm if you are interested in build a pc and i can help you step by step with it. Being an engineer, it should not be that difficult for you to put together.

[Digital Chaos]

Dell Workstation class laptop - $1300 - Precision M4600

HP workstation class laptop - $1400 - HP EliteBook 8560w Mobile Workstation - HP Elitebook 8560w Mobile Workstation

Couple laptop options for ya, the dell has a bigger hard drive and more ram. And if you want a bigger screen (theses are 15") the 17" are about $300 more.

[Digital Chaos]

If you don't have a problem with used, you could go this route HP XW8600 WORKSTATION 2X E5440 QUAD CORE CPU'S 16GB MEM 2X 250GB SATA | eBay $580