10 Best Laptops for Scientific Computing in 2023

As we all know, a student pursuing a major or degree in Computer Science simply cannot survive without a good laptop. Although the main criteria for most students would be to code, learn programming languages, concepts, submit homework on time, do projects, etc., students could also do some extracurricular breaths like casual games.

Finding the best laptops for Scientific Computing may seem easy at first, but with so many options on the market. It becomes a little difficult to find the one that suits your needs. The difficult task is not to find a good laptop, but to find a suitable one (the one that has neither power nor little power).

With a plethora of options available on the market today, the task might seem very daunting, but in this guide, we have considered all possible factors that would help you decide on a laptop that meets your needs and requirements.

LIST OF 10 BEST LAPTOPS FOR SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING:

Here we will look at the top 10 best laptops for Scientific Computing:

• APPLE MACBOOK PRO
• HUAWEI MATEBOOK X PRO
• ASUS VIVOBOOK S
• HP ENVY 13”
• Acer Predator Helios 300
• Dell XPS 9570 Laptop
• Asus ZenBook 13
• Acer Aspire E 15
• HP Pavilion
• Microsoft Surface Pro

 

 

1) APPLE MACBOOK PRO:

The Apple MacBook Pro is an expensive workstation. Apple tax included. The only thing that justifies its price is its support. The MacBook Pro comes with better hardware configurations than previous models, but also with some downsides. Performance-wise, it is a very fast laptop.

A ninth-generation six-core Intel i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon Pro. There’s also an option for an 8th Gen i9. The specifications and operating system make it ideal for scientific computing.

Another great thing about the MacBook Pro is the battery life. It can last 9-10 hours of normal use. On top of that, it weighs almost 4 pounds and just over an inch thick. It also has four Thunderbolt ports that you can connect to an external GPU or high-resolution monitors.

 

2) HUAWEI MATEBOOK X PRO:

The Huawei MateBook X Pro has one of the best price/performance ratios on the laptop market. In addition to that, it has a long-lasting battery. It has a 3.9-inch (3000 x 2000) touchscreen with a slim bezel. Sharpness, brightness, and color accuracy make it a pleasant screen to watch. The reason for its excellent performance is a hardware configuration of an 8th generation Intel i7 quad-core processor and 16GB of RAM. It also has a discrete MX150 graphics card that is entry-level.

Title AAA games will not run smoothly unless you reduce the setting to low. Storage is a 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD. A fast storage device that also contributes to the performance of the laptop. As mentioned above about battery life, can last 9-10 hours of normal use. Plus, it’s one of the lightest laptops weighing in at nearly 3 pounds and a half-inch thick. Due to its thinness, the Huawei MateBook X Pro tends to heat up. The webcam is also hidden.

A good idea if you care about your privacy. Triggers from the keyboard when activated. The awkward position makes the webcam look directly at your nose. Fans also get noisy when loads get heavy. The Huawei MateBook X Pro is a good alternative to the MacBook Pro due to its similar build quality and battery life. In addition to that, it is light and slim. Overall, a solid option with a good price-performance ratio.

 

3) ASUS VIVOBOOK S:

The ASUS VivoBook S is a great laptop to start if you are a beginner in scientific computing. An 8th Gen Intel i5 quad-core, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.  Enough performance to do basic projects. On top of that, the keyboard is backlit and provides a comfortable typing experience. It has the right amount of tactile feedback and travel. The port selection is decent, a USB Type-C, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0. Speaking of slim and lightweight, the ASUS VivoBook weighs almost 4 pounds and is just over an inch thick.

Battery life is also above average and lasts 8 to 9 hours of normal use. Although ASUS claims that the screen is rich in color in specs, it is really average. The VivoBook has a 15.6-inch (1920 x 1080) Full HD that has the accuracy and average color reproduction. Sharpness and brightness are decent. However, the ASUS VivoBook is a great laptop to start learning science computing and analytics if you’re a student or looking for something more affordable to buy.

 

4) HP ENVY 13” Thin Laptop w/ Fingerprint Reader:

We tested the HP ENVY 13 which comes with a 4K high-resolution touchscreen, an Intel Core i7-8565U processor, 16GB SDRAM, and a 512GB SSD accompanied by an NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card. The Envy line of HP notebook computers is known for its sophisticated and sleek looks, and the new edition does the existing line justice. Envy can drop almost any high-end laptop when it comes to simple aesthetics. Weighing in at about 2.8 pounds and width of about 0.6 inches, this laptop can compete with almost any laptop in terms of size and weight, this portability is especially useful for students who like to travel light.

The high 4K resolution offers a very surprising environment with sharp and bright colors that burst from the screen. 4K touch screen is responsive and touches feeling is vivid and makes the whole experience of using stock drawing apps like Snip and Sketch much more exciting, this experience can come in handy if you are using wireframe tools to plan UI / UX of your application and you don’t want to go through the hassle of using a digitizer tablet before proceeding to write the code.

The combination of the i7-8565U processor, 16GB SDRAM, and a 512GB SSD can make its high-performance use child’s play. You could run a bunch of Chrome tabs while debugging and compiling code and watching your favorite 4K movie at the same time. All of this to the max with a decent battery, quality speakers, and essential security features, making it a perfect choice for computer science students.

 

5) Acer Predator Helios 300:

Owning a powerful laptop with high-end specs might seem like overkill to a computer science student due to its scaled price tag, but with the Acer Predator Helios 300 series on the scene, that won’t be the case anymore. The back panel of the display is metal, as is the keyboard and palm rest area, the display bezel and bottom are plastic. This makes the laptop look aesthetic, and since it is a high-performance machine, it prevents the bottom from the microwave in your lap.

The screen, on the other hand, is enough to surprise anyone! The display is rated at approximately 300 nits. It is perfectly visible outside in daylight, the contrast and color gamut are very effective and pleasing to the eye. So if your tasks require you to code for long straight hours, at least you won’t have an unpleasant experience.

This machine is capable of running high-end games and software at the same time, complex programming with tools like Tensor Flow and Shogun works smoothly, thanks to the 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD on this machine, allowing you to save microphones -details of your precious project The GPU can take almost everything it can possibly launch in the craziest settings and you won’t notice any performance issues. You can try your luck with the craziest game settings or programming and it won’t stop surprising you.

One of the highlights of this laptop is that it is not entirely made of plastic and metal components, it also has an excellent cooling system that allows you to do your work for hours together without having to worry about overheating. However, one of the shortcomings is that this laptop has a very short battery life in intensive use, it manages to stay for just 5 hours in continuous use, so if you are looking for extended hours of portable use, this could not be your best bet.

 

6) Dell XPS 9570 Laptop:

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The XPS line of Dell laptops is synonymous with all gold, premium, and high-end for the brand, and the latest Dell XPS 9570 lives up to the expectations that have been built around the flagship over the years. The XPS 9570 is arguably one of the most powerful laptops out there today, thanks to its 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and a beastly GPU that is GeForce GTX 1050Ti.

Not forgetting the fact that it is also extremely aesthetic with its attractive, modern, industry-oriented 4.0 design, sleek bezels, and a gorgeous 4K display. The only thing people have been complaining about regarding the look is the oddly placed webcam, which can be considered negligible if you’re not crazy about the minute details of the aesthetic. This laptop can compete head-to-head with any formidable laptop on the market today.

After testing the XPS 9750 with 4K touchscreen, 1080p non-touchscreen, and Ultra HD touchscreen, we were amused to note the deep, rich colors and stunningly sharp details on the beautiful 1920 x 1080 matte display. After seeing the progress of some of the upcoming movies, we weren’t sure if we enjoyed the trailer or the experience of seeing the tiniest details of the items on the screen. So as a computer science student, when you crave a break from study, streaming content on Netflix will be a much better experience than ever.

For such a sleek system, the XPS 9750 is a shocking beast inside, the 8th Gen Intel Core i7, combined with all the hardware specs listed above, will let you watch your favorite 1080p show with MATLAB, IntelliJ, and Netbeans running your courses in the background. This type of setup is perfect if you are a student who plans to stray from your curriculum because you have become smarter than your teachers and peers at the same time.

To top it off, the 5GB SSD will allow you to duplicate your large files in seconds, what does that sound like? Plus, the GeForce GTX 1050Ti paired with the 400-nit display will make your gaming experience so profound that you’ll never go for an external monitor again, no matter how hard a player is. In general, if you are a suitable student with young people and you have the responsibility to follow your study plan, this is a perfect machine for you.

 

7) Asus ZenBook 13:

The best way to describe this laptop is that it has all the best packaged in a chassis for hundreds of dollars less than its competitors, it is almost surprising that it does not make a hole in your pocket.

The Asus Zenbook 13 comes with an Intel Core i5-8265U processor embedded with Intel UHD 620 GPU, 8GB LPDDR3 RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD, these specs are enough to allow you to run any learning software/tools your teacher can offer you. The battery life of this machine is superb, potentially offering you 11 hours of heavy use without flinching, making it a very viable option for those who hate connection points and love to write code wirelessly in the location they choose.

The laptop comes with a bright 13.3-inch IPS display and the screen has smaller bezels on the top and sides, giving the laptop a premium, aesthetic look. The entire panel is bright but at 225 nits, the peak brightness is mediocre and dim, making it a problem at this price, as some laptops in this segment play almost 375nits. The lack of a dedicated standalone graphics card also makes it an unappealing proposition for computer science students who become hardcore gamers after hours of programming and writing code during their class hours. Also, if you love loud music during breaks, the Zenbook 13 doesn’t have the best speakers. For such an audience, we suggest that you review the other options given in this list.

 

8) Acer Aspire E 15:

The laptop is designed with the demands of the modern user who likes to use the laptop for work, curriculum, and schedule in mind, so the machine manages to deliver performance that is substantially powerful with its amazing battery life.

Backup that can let you run for up to 10 hours even with heavy programming, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U processor, 8GB dual-channel memory, 256GB SSD, and NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM. This powerful combination at such an affordable price will allow you to run MATLAB, Visual Basic Studio, and Kotlin at the same time, allowing you to keep up to date with your curriculum in no time.

Given the Acer Aspire E15 budget, buyers should make sure that their expectations are not exaggerated in terms of super heavy performance, for example, one cannot expect to run the latest games in the highest settings, although you can play these games with a Perfect experience in mid and low settings. Also, if you are an old school 90s kid who started playing computers at a young age, this laptop might make you remember a few things as it currently has a numeric keypad.

Surprisingly, this laptop has an impressive keyboard with perfect alignment and key spacing and enough depth information for effortless typing, this is a feature that laptops that cost hundreds of dollars more than this don’t have. The laptop also has a large screen with a 159% sRGB color gamut.

The laptop also features a DVD drive and is quite bulky since Acer hasn’t focused much on body and portability to include a ton of specs at a moderate price, the speakers aren’t qualified to stand out either. Overall, the Acer Aspire E15 is a good value notebook with a good combination of good features and hardware at a low price, and with this budget very few notebooks come close.

 

9) HP Pavilion:

HP is famous for its Pavilion Gaming series. It is because they have created machines full of energy over the years. The 2018 HP Pavilion is here to bring you serious performance at an affordable price of just $ 800. This is an affordable and good laptop for computer science students. The appearance of this model is demanding, avant-garde, and completely revised. At just 5.2 pounds (“only” for a laptop like this), you get a comfortable keyboard and track. The screen is phenomenal. You will get an extremely good perception of colors in a normal range.

Since this laptop is designed for games and heavy tasks like running computer software, it has recommended specs. With massive 1TB HDD storage, you get 8GB DDR4 RAM with an Intel Core i5-8300H CPU. That’s not all, the GTX 1050Ti 4GB GPU is here to take your gaming experience to the next level with its incredible performance.

Due to its weight (5 lb) and its size (15.6 inches), the HP Pavilion is not very portable as you imagine. Who would want to carry such a heavy machine, anyway? But that doesn’t mean you can’t. Of course, depending on your means and needs, you can take it with you (not for long). This laptop bag can help you if you want to travel with this beast.

The keyboard comes with green peripheries and, as I said, it’s quite a bit smoother for a gaming laptop. The ports you will get on this laptop are two USB 3.1 and one HDMI. The battery life of this HP Pavilion is commendable. HP claims to offer around 9 hours of mixed-use, and according to Erik, you can even more than that if you don’t push too hard.

 

10) Microsoft Surface Pro:

Microsoft Surface Pro is called the best 2-in-1 device Microsoft has ever produced and why shouldn’t it be called that? It offers many features at a very reasonable price. With an attractive resolution of 2736 x 1824 and a 12.3-inch screen, the Surface Pro is similar to that of the Surface Pro 4. However, the touchscreen has been greatly improved. Apart from this, the edges are more rounded compared to the Surface Pro 4. One more difference that speaks out loud is the improved hinge angle for a better study mode. The laptop is covered in Alcantara fabric, making it a bit hostile to be placed on your lap.

With the specs presumed by Microsoft Surface, you shouldn’t expect high performance compared to a high-end laptop. However, it tops the list in 2-in-1 available out there. The model I’m reviewing comes loaded with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. Additionally, it contains an Intel Iris and HD graphics GPU with a 7th Gen Core i5 processor. Microsoft Surface wins the portability contest. It is super portable and lightweight. I mean carrying 1.7 lbs (0.8 kg) around and that’s also as thin (0.33 inches) as this device isn’t a drag, right?

One of the most important Microsoft features that this laptop offer is Surace Pen. It has become more pressure-sensitive, which is a great thing for illustrators. So if you want to do that along with completing your studies, it should work well for you. For typing, the ergonomic keyboard has been designed to accommodate comfort and convenience.

However, to connect devices, there is only a USB 3.0 port, a mini DisplayPort, a microSDXC card reader, and a microphone/headphone jack. Microsoft has managed to make room for a 20% bigger battery in this model than the previous ones. This means nothing more than an improvement in overall battery time. However, unlike the claims made by the manufacturers, it lasts between 6 and 7 hours.

 

Conclusion:

The aforementioned list comprises the best data science laptops that are available on the market these days. With some great specs, these laptops have a multifaceted personality. You can use them for a myriad of other activities, such as fast browsing, enjoying games, video chatting, and operating various data science-related apps.

As a sophisticated field of technology, data science needs laptops that are built with nimble features, be sure to pick the one that meets your requirements and run a long mile with you. The perfect collection of features in a better laptop depends on the requirements that I have explained based on my research. So, don’t waste your time and go to Amazon to have yours.