Best Laptop for Architecture Students

Are you a designing enthusiast? We’ve gathered all the necessary intel for you to get creative and get your hands dirty (metaphorically!) on your next workstation. Which, by the way, is going to be amazing. Because, after a lot of testing and trials, we have curated a top-10 list for the best laptops for architecture students!

What’s unique about this article is that it covers all the miniscule details which essentially bring out the best in each of these laptops. This is a premium laptops’ list.

We have considered everything whilst building this catalogue- from specs to performance, from budget (all types) to durability. So, what are waiting for? Let’s design this docket, shall we?

Best Laptop for Architecture Students

#1.Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2

The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen2 is the laptop to go for. It has the amazing feature of stunning Dolby Vision™ HDR 4K UHD OLED touchscreen panel, that displays the most true-to-life colors a human eye can perceive.

If this isn’t enough to lure you into considering this laptop, then wait, there is so much more to this all-rounder workstation for all you lovely architects and/or designers.

The Gen 2 in this laptop packs in a lot more performance than the most popular first generation of this same model came with. Along with extra power, this one is equipped with a 9^th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and up to 1 TB of SSD storage.

The graphics of the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 is none other than the best in the market, NVIDIA Quadro T10004GB!

Visuals of this product are out of this world, with sharp display output. It also has the wireless Bluetooth facility that is very much necessary- mo’ music, mo’ creativity! The processor model is the i7-9750h and the processor speed is 2.60 GHz. Maximum display resolution is 1920 x 1080, which is pretty neat deal if you ask us.

With a screen size of 15.6 in, this laptop is perfect for designing on the go and yet, is a decent size to efficiently let the work flow going. Its cutting-edge technology adds to the portability and efficiency, we were talking about earlier.

The ThinkPad P Series laptops are ISV-certified for all the major applications you might be in a lookout for.

This is a hexa-core (or, 6 core) laptop, with a standard 16 GB memory. If you are curious as to what memory technology is used in this laptop, it is the DDR4 SDRAM. Talking about the total solid-state drive, the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 2 has capacity of 256 GB.

#2. Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

If you are specifically looking for a premium touchscreen laptop, this is the one to go for. Highly recommended with its two amazing processor options- AMD Ryzen or 10^th Gen Intel Core i7.

Whichever you end up choosing, you will surely get the best experience in terms of rendering requirements and all the different software you will be putting to use.

This one comes with a hard disk size of 1 TB which is quite enough for all the large psd files you will have. RAM is of 32 GB. But, the most appealing feature of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is its matte finish and the beautiful complimenting colors it comes in- black, cobalt blue, platinum, sandstone.

Windows 10 is the operating system it comes with, with is pretty decent. Going over to the graphics coprocessor, it is equipped with AMD Radeon RX Vega 11. At just 3.4 pounds, and a 15-inch display screen, this laptop is convenient to carry, is thin and light. Convenience is all the more embellished with the USB-C and USB-A ports for all your connection needs.

The battery life in this little attractive piece is mind-blowing. It has all-day power on-the-go feature, with up to 11.5 hours of battery life. It is also equipped with stand-by time for when you are away.

As advertised, the exclusive AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processor inside the Surface Laptop 3 15” is designed to give you outstanding responsiveness with 15% more graphics performance (GPU) and 10% more processor performance when compared to other AMD mobile processors- all in an ultra-slim 15” laptop!

Yet another exciting feature includes the enhanced studio mics and wake on voice to make this laptop you very own. Pen input is also available with this one. So, what are you waiting for? Bring your vision to life on the vibrant PixelSense™ display.

#3. MSI P65 Creator

The thing that makes the MSI P65 Creator very much likeable is that it is hands-down the best 4K laptop, especially for architecture students and those who are into designing stuff. With its 32 GB RAM, and 9^th Gen Intel Core i7-9750h processor, it is one heck of a laptop.

The 4K resolution we briefly mentioned above, provides such vivid colours and deep blacks, making it perfect for the architects and designers.

It has the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics coprocessor and a storage capacity of 1 TB, due to its Teton Glacier storage facility. The display is 15.6” Uhd (3840 x 2160) that also comes with an anti-glare wide view angle.

It promotes intense rendering and multitasking. NVIDIA GPUs accelerate your work for incredible boosts in performance, completing tasks up to 12x faster.

We are urging you to get this one so that you can divulge into your very own creative studio that can easily handle big workloads, faster and with more efficiency. Its unique ray tracing feature creates beautiful scenes with accurate lighting, shadows and reflections, rendered faster.

Yet another amazing feature is the AI-Assist which accelerates up-resing, photo enhancements, colour matching, face tagging, and style transfer. Do you see how versatile this bad boy is?

Looks are also quite stunning. It has an aluminum-built chassis which provides a trustworthy, reliable, and friendly office environment. What’s great is that you can login faster and more securely with Windows Hello and face/fingerprint detecting facility.

The Intel Otane memory learns your behavior and automatically prioritizes frequent applications. What’s not to like? It also has 8 hours of battery life which aids in mobility without bounds.

The CPU speed is 2.6 GHz and the maximum display resolution is 3840 x 2160 pixels. Its processor count of 6 ties this product description perfectly.

#4. DELL Precision 7540

If you are already in the professional world of architecture, then this laptop is for you. Architecture students, if you are taking up a serious internship and/or part-time job, we highly urge you to invest in this one. It is a very powerful laptop, quite popular among technical professionals, for that matter.

It comes equipped with the latest graphics card option- NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, with 6 GB GDDR6. The RAM is more than just impressing- up to 128 GB and the SSD storage is of 2 TB.

It has the i9-9980HK processor, and an 8-core 5.00 GHz Quadro RTX 3000. Digging a little deeper into the display part, it comes with a 15.6” ultra-sharp FHD, 1920 x 1080 AG touch display and Bluetooth 5.0.

The software included in this laptop is none other than the beloved Microsoft Office 365. Audio output choices include headphones as well as speakers, with a universal audio jack and noise reducing array microphones.

The wireless communication technology in the DELL Precision 7540 is amazing as well, attested by the Wireless Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2×2 . 11ax 160MHz.

Some more features in this laptop comprise of 16 MB cache, turbo of 2.30 GHz through 4.80 GHz. Storage facilities are M.2 2TB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid-state drive upgrade. This is a very costly laptop, which is what demands its professional utility and awareness of usage.

Maximum display resolution is of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It is also quite lightweight at 5.57 pounds. It also has a palm rest, along with smart card, fingerprint reader and NFC. Ports include 2 thunderbolt, 3 USB Type-C ports, 2 USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, 1 HDMI 2.0, and 1 RJ45.

It also has the aforementioned headphone jack, a Mini DisplayPort 1.4, and a power adaptor port. Some of the slots included are SD card reader, smart card reader and a wedge lock slot.

#5. HP ZBook 15 G5

As the name of this laptop suggests, this is a G5 workstation. It is a touchscreen, microphone-enabled, and equipped with an extra numeric keypad, which a lot of laptops don’t have. The power is amazing, can withstand all sorts of high-demand software. Standard features like Bluetooth, and webcam come preinstalled in this laptop.

The HP ZBook 15 G5 is not the latest, there is a G6 version to this model. Still, we would say you get this one, primarily because it gains extra brownie points for its affordability and portability.

The graphics coprocessor, is nonetheless, the one and only AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100. Talking about the processor, it is equipped with the Intel Core i7-8550U Quad-Core 1.80 GHz (up to 4.00 GHz).

With 32 GB DDR4 2400 MHz of RAM- which includes two 16 GB DIMM- and 1 TB PCIe-NVMe SSD, it provides a speed of 1,800 MB/s for read and 1,800 MB/s for write. The display screen is a 15.6” FHD with 1920 x 1080 pixels of IPS anti-glare display.

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 coprocessor we were talking about earlier, is nothing less than dedicated graphics, which comes along with Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit.

What’s even more amazing is that this laptop comes with a 3-year limited warrantee. It has a processor count of 4. A beautiful silver outer finish and a backlit keyboard nicely pull the entire laptop together with customized looks. This one also has a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Some more specifications can be put forth by mentioning the different ports it is loaded with- RJ-45/Ethernet, USB 3.0 (charging), USB 3.0, security lock slot, HDMI 2.0, two Thunderbolt 3 (supporting DisplayPort 1.3, USB 3.1 Gen 2, PCIe Gen 3 devices), stereo microphone-in/headphone-out combo jack, power connector, and two more USB 3.0 on the right side.

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The digital media slots comprise of an SD-UHS II Flash media slot (which supports next-generation SD and is backwards compatible to SDHC and SDXC), and an integrated smart card reader (which is compatible with ISO 7816 compliant smart cards PC/SC interface support).

#6. Lenovo ThinkPad P43s

The Lenovo ThinkPad P43s is a compact and ultra-light laptop, at 14 inches and 3.24 pounds only! Despite this, it performs exquisitely and is a value-for-money laptop. It is jam-packed with high-performance due to its 8^th Gen Intel Core i7-8565U processor and NIVIDIA Quadro P520 graphics. In terms of storage, it is a 2 TB SSD laptop.

Yet another attractive feature in this is the all-day battery life. With 16 GB RAM and a 1920 x 1080 maximum resolution, we say it is worthy of a position in this top-10 list. The processor speed is 1.80 MHz.

Fusing the portability of ThinkPad with the power of workstation, P series laptops feature ISV-certified applications, lightning fast graphics & processing, and more cutting-edge technology to handle your compute-intensive needs- in a surprisingly thin, light package.

This is a quad–core laptop which means it comes with 4 cores. The memory technology employed is the standard DDR4 SDRAM and has a total solid-state drive capacity of 512 GB.

This one does not have a touchscreen, but it nowhere brings the laptop down otherwise. Its graphics memory capacity is of around 2 GB, which utilizes the memory technology of GDDR5. Some built-in features include front camera/webcam, and a fingerprint reader.

There is a total of four USB ports which comprise of 2 USB 3.1 ports, 1 USB Type-C and 1 RJ-45. The USB Type-C is a TBT3 USB 3.1 Gen 2, DP, Power-in. Additionally, the keyboard is backlit.

It is definitely a premium laptop and is costly, but relatively (compared with some other on the list), it is affordable. With the features and reliability that Lenovo provides, we urge you to invest in this laptop for an extra creative future. You will not regret it one bit.

#7. LG Gram

We have now ventured our way to some of the more affordable options in this list. This laptop, in particular, is under $1,000. With almost all of the credit going to its Intel Core i5 8^th Generation 8265U processor, the LG Gram does nothing but impress.

It takes pride in sporting a full HD display for accurate graphic and modelling work. The base model comes with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, though these can be upgraded with up to 20 GB RAM and a mammoth 2 TB of storage space.

This laptop is also a standout performer in terms of mobility- it is very light at just 2.2 pounds, and the high-capacity 72 Wh battery lasts for up to 23.5 hours, making it ideal for starter designers on the go.

As advertised, the LG Gram packs exciting features. You can keep going on even in dark environments with the backlit keyboard, while the touchpad supports four-finger multi-touch gestures.

The webcam on the top bezel is ideal for video calls, while DTS Headphone:X provides the thrilling effect of 11.1-channel surround sound. This laptop has the performance users demand, with its DDR4 dual-channel memory.

Windows 10 assures easier multi-tasking, while the array of ports includes USB Type-C. The Full-HD IPS display supports a broad color gamut to deliver lifelike picture quality. The LG Gram is more than ready for the rigors of real-world use.

It has passed seven industry-standard tests to prove its military-grade durability. The premium nano carbon magnesium full metal body is tougher than the shell of conventional laptops, yet it’s still remarkably lightweight.

The dimensions of the LG Gram are 12.70 in x 8.30 in x 0.60 in. The A/C power adaptor is white too, which ties the whole look of the laptop really well.

#8. Acer Aspire 5

The Acer Aspire is even more affordable, it is in the category of under $700! A 15.6” full HD IPS display with a narrow bezel gives a clean look to this unique number. This also aids in providing clear, crisp visuals usually reserved for higher-end products.

Upgradable 8 GB RAM and 512 SSD storage are quite enough for those who are starters or beginners.

Acer Aspire 5 is a slim laptop, equipped with the AMD Radeon Vega 3 graphics coprocessor and the AMD Ryzen 3 3200u processor to give powerful utility and widespread versatility. The AMD Ryzen 3 3200u processor is a dual core processor, with up to 3.5 GHz of core speed, 4 GB DDR4 memory, and 128 GB PCIe NVMe SSD.

The 15.6” display is a 1920 x 1080 pixels widescreen with LED backlit IPS display. Ports included in the laptop are 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 HDMI port with HDCP support.

Some more specs are that it has 802.11ac Wi-Fi, a backlit keyboard, and up to 7.5 hours of battery life (which is not the best but at this price, we can’t complain). Windows 10 is in S mode and the laptop has a maximum power supply wattage of 65 W.

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Powerful and portable, the Aspire 5 laptop delivers on every aspect of everyday computing. Housing the AMD Ryzen 3 3200u mobile processor, this Aspire 5 can tackle any job no matter how complex. The power of sound in this amazing product is amazing too.

You can turn up the music with Acer TrueHarmony, bringing to you deeper bass and more volume through its innovative speaker design. This laptop has been specifically designed for superior performance that lasts.

This way, start-ups are quick and built to stay that way. Additionally, it is lightweight with just 3.97 pounds.

#9. Lenovo Flex 14

We have moved the price bar further down, with this laptop being under $600. Along with it, the Lenovo Flex 14 brings touch screen capabilities and performance on a budget. Important specs are that it is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 5 3500u processor, Radeon Vega 8 graphics, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, and 256 GB SSD storage.

And, all these are still not among the best features of the Lenovo Flex 14. What’s best is that you can very conveniently pivot the laptop in a drawing board position, which is what makes it popular among architecture students and designers. The pen is included with the unit.

With up to 8 hours of battery life, and quick recharge technology, you can power up your laptop up to 80% in just one hour. A comprehensive protection with Windows 10 helps protect against viruses, malware, and ransomware.

Included in the unit is a convenient TrueBlock privacy shutter which allows you to physically close your webcam when you are not using it, thereby increasing security.

The included Active pen lets you draw or take notes directly on the screen, anywhere you go. In addition to all this, there is a full HD touch display and of course, the AMD Ryzen processor, which lets you work, stream, game, as well as edit.

Some more accessories are HDMI, USB-C, USB 3.1 inputs, and a fingerprint reader.

Powered by cutting-edge AMD Ryzen™ processing, the Flex 14 is designed to boost your productivity and creativity, while enhancing your multimedia experience. Whether you are gaming, streaming, or collaborating online, you will enjoy seamless performance with amazing visuals, every time.

As an architecture student, it is important for one to look back at times, on the work done in the past. This laptop has a unique timeline feature which is essentially a quick and easy way to scroll through the documents, apps, and websites you recently worked on.

You can find the 30 days’ worth, all in chronological order, ready to go.

#10. ASUS Vivobook 15

This ASUS Vivobook 15 is a very affordable laptop, especially for students, with a price under $500! This is great for beginners, specifically because it possesses an Intel Core i3 processor, 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of SSD storage.

As has been put in the description of this laptop, the ASUS Vivobook 15 is a compact laptop that immerses you in whatever you set to do, whether that is work or play, for that matter. Its new frameless 15 four-sided NanoEdge display boasts an ultra-slim 5.7 mm bezel, giving an amazing 88% screen-to-body ratio for supremely immersive visuals.

The new ErgoLift hinge design also tilts the keyboard up for more comfortable typing. Vivobook 15 is powered by up to the latest Intel® Core™ i7 processor with discrete NVIDIA® graphics and dual storage drives to help you get things done with the least amount of fuss.

What’s more, it’s available in four unique finishes to suit your style! It gives you a viewing angle of 178˚!

Well, life moves fast. Therefore, you will need a laptop that won’t weigh you down. Vivobook 15 has compact, travel-friendly dimensions and it incredibly light-weight. So, just simply slip it in your bag for true go-anywhere computing.

VivoBook 15 is available in different finishes to suit your style. Transparent Silver provides a sleek and sophisticated look, or go for Slate Grey for a more understated approach.

Set the trend with the uniquely iridescent Peacock Blue: a unique option that changes color when you look at it from different angles. If you really want to stand out, there’s Coral Crush with its bright finish.

Additionally, you get a dual-band Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) which means you can enjoy a superfast online experience with speeds up to 867 Mbps. Vivobook 15 also features Intel Optane™ memory technology, so apps load faster and multitasking feels smoother

CONCLUSION

We hope that your search for your next designing workstation-on-the-go is over now. This list contains all the price ranges and has been specifically built with architecture students’ requirements in mind.

So, get your minds churning and get down to business! Happy designing 