Best Laptops For Chemical Engineering – Reviews

Chemical engineering is different from other disciplines in a lot of ways. And that is why you can’t use general laptops recommended for students when it comes to chemical engineering.

Finding the best laptop for chemical engineering students is a tedious task which is why we’ve done that for you. We’ve gone through hundreds of laptops and have matched them with what a chemical engineering student would need.

We’ve taken opinions from owners of those models and gathered enough intel before we ended up with our final list.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Best Laptops For Chemical Engineering Students

Check out our best picks

• ASUS ZenBook 13 – Editor’s Choice
• MacBook Pro 13″ – Mac Pick
• Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Pick
• ASUS ROG Strix

1. ASUS ZenBook 13 – Editor’s Choice

The ASUS ZenBook 13 is our Editor’s choice for the best laptop for chemical engineering students in 2020.

The ZenBook line has been producing some amazing laptops for quite some years and the ASUS ZenBook 13 is no exception.

The ASUS ZenBook 13 is as powerful and as useful as the 15-inch model from ASUS. Though there will be some minor trade-offs, the smaller model is perfect for chemical engineering students in every way possible.

One thing we cannot ignore about the ASUS ZenBook is its design. ASUS has managed to fit a 13.3-inch laptop into the footprint of a much smaller laptop. This is mainly because of some design improvements regarding the display.

The bezels surrounding the display are super thin and ASUS has nailed it. ASUS has done well to put the camera on the top bezel itself self which is the most convenient position for a laptop camera. Previous models used to have the camera at the bottom bezel and they were not as convenient.

The image quality of the display deserves special mention. This is one of the best full HD displays you will find on the market and we don’t say this easily. The contrast ratio of the display is second to none because of which you see deep blacks and bright whites with an impressive greyscale performance as well.

The display is perfect for students as it is well suited for browsing the web, working on documents, research, media consumption, and so on. The speakers on this laptop are also very good making this a wholesome multimedia device.

The keyboard on the ASUS ZenBook 13 is nearly perfect. The tactile keys give excellent feedback which makes the typing experience pleasant. The keys come with backlighting which makes this keyboard a good companion in the dark. The trackpad comes with excellent support for Windows gestures and gets things done.

Being a 13.3-inch laptop, the ZenBook 13 is one of the most portable laptops you will find. With a weight of under 2.5 pounds, you can easily take this laptop with you without adding any extra baggage.

The battery life of the Dell XPS 13 is another important aspect That impressed us. We have a 52 WHr 4-cell battery and it delivers around 8 to 10 hours of battery life with light loads. 

Even with a more demanding workload, the laptop should be able to last for at least 5 to 7 hours which is more than you can ask for.

The processor that captains the ship is an Intel Core i7 processor. This Intel Core i7 8565u processor is a quad-core processor that comes with a base clocking frequency of 1.8 GHz and a maximum clocking frequency of 4.6 GHz.

With a cache memory of 8 MB, this processor is perfect for handling all your everyday tasks without any disappointments. The processor gets a CPU marks score of 6698 which makes it one of the topmost mid-range processors for laptops.

Though the base clock speed of the processor might be a bit low, the processor can give you adequate extra power at the time of need, thanks to the turbo boost functionality.

The memory department compliments the processor nicely. We have 16 GB of RAM with a base frequency of 2133 MHz. This memory will treat you well When it comes to multitasking. You can open up your favorite browser and have more than five tabs without bringing the performance of the system down.

Storage, the laptop comes with 512 GB of SSD storage. We said this 100 times, the presence of an SSD will trump a hard drive disk at any time. The solid-state drive gives you excellent performance and is perfect for a student’s laptop.

The ASUS ZenBook 13 comes only with an integrated graphics card. The graphics card here is an Intel UHD graphics 620 graphics card and it does pretty well when it comes to handling your everyday graphics needs. You can even play some mid-range games without meddling with the settings too much.

Let’s talk about the connectivity options in the ASUS ZenBook 13. The laptop comes with connectivity for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 which is very essential these days. The laptop also has a USB type C port and a MicroSD slot for external connectivity. There is also a USB 3.1 gen 2 port which can come in handy as well.

Overall, the ASUS ZenBook 13 is an amazing laptop and it gives you all the features you need without costing you an arm which is why this is our best laptop for chemical engineering students without a fraction of a doubt.

2. MacBook Pro 13″ – Mac Pick

If you are a chemical engineering student who favors the Mac, then the MacBook Pro 13″ is the best laptop for you.

Most schools recommend having a Windows laptop as you get the most support with the Windows operating system. But that doesn’t mean you can’t work with the Mac. You can install windows with the help of Boot Camp and work on applications that are windows only.

One of the best things about this MacBook Pro is its portability. Apple produces amazingly portable laptops with a weight of 3 lbs, this one is no exception. You can easily is like this laptop into your backpack and take it with you to attend your lectures.

Battery life is another compelling feature of the MacBook Pro 13 inches. With a light load, you should be able to squeeze out at least 10 to 12 hours of battery life which is amazing for a high-performance ultrabook. Even with a heavy workload, you should be able to get around 5 to 7 hours of battery life.

Apple makes amazing displays and the one on this laptop is a fine example of it. With the retina resolution, there are millions and millions of pixels on this display and you will find it hard to point out a single pixel from a decent distance.

The screen comes with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. This is one of the brightest laptop displays you will find and not many 13-inch laptops will meet the standard. The display also covers a hundred percent of the sRGB color gamut which makes this a very good choice for photo and video-related work.

The keyboard on this laptop still uses the butterfly mechanism Which provides four times more key stability when compared to the traditional scissor mechanism. Apple gives us a ton of reasons to support this new keyboard mechanism, we have to agree that a lot of people have faced issues with this keyboard.

We haven’t come across any issues but we do take other problems seriously. The bank lending on the keyboard is excellent and is unlike anything you have seen on other laptops. 

The trackpad on the MacBook Pro is huge and comes with excellent palm rejection. You will enjoy making gestures on this trackpad, no doubt.

This model comes with the Touch Bar which replaces the function keys. A lot of users have complained about this change, but honestly, we found this refreshing. The Touch Bar gives you the option to be more versatile and capable. It presents contextual options depending on the app you are using.

In addition to the Touch Bar, you also get a touch ID on your Mac which is a nice addition. With touch ID, you can unlock your Mac, buy with Apple Pay, and also use it for any kind of authentication.

This MacBook Pro model also comes with Apple’s T2 security chip. This T2 chip is Apple’s custom-designed coprocessor and it helps in creating a secure enclave for all your important data. It helps in consolidating controllers like system management controllers, SSD controllers, and also audio controllers into one.

 Along with this T2 security chip, you also get Hey Siri which is always ready and listening.

The MacBook Pro 13″ comes with a couple of Thunderbolt three ports. This USB type C port is one of the most versatile ports you are going to see on a laptop. This thunderbolt port can help in transferring data up to 40 GB/s, it can charge and provide power, can connect with an eGPU, and can also support up to 2 5K displays.

Let’s talk about the processing power of this MacBook Pro. We have an Intel Core i5 processor with a base clocking frequency of 2.4 GHz. This is a mid-range processor and comes with enough power to deal with your everyday work without any hiccups.

The processor comes with excellent benchmark scores and reflects it in real-life performance as well. You can browse the web, research, listen to music, work on your office docs, consume media, and do a lot more with this processor without any performance issues.

The laptop comes with a memory of 8 GB that is of DDR4 type. This memory should serve you well and allow you to multitask without making your life harder. Having more RAM is recommended but this should be more than enough for most students which is why we are perfectly fine with it.

The laptop comes with 256 GB of SSD storage that is both spacious and fast for a chemical engineering student.

Overall, the MacBook Pro is a stunning laptop that brings both power and portability to the table. For all the reasons mentioned above, the MacBook Pro 13″ is the best Apple laptop for chemical engineering students.

3. Acer Aspire 5 – Budget Pick

Finding the best budget laptop for chemical engineering students can be a bit of a challenge but we found that the Acer Aspire 5 is a very good choice when looking for an affordable laptop.

The Acer Aspire 5 comes with a few configurations, each of them giving you a certain amount of power at a different price tag. You can go for a cheap model with minimal power or a decent laptop by spending a little extra.

Acer has not completely compromised when it comes to individual aspects of the laptop. One fine example of that is the display. We have a 15.6-inch full HD display that comes with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. for a budget laptop, this resolution is very handy and outputs good-quality images.

The keyboard on this laptop is a pleasant one and gives you a satisfying typing experience. We are surprised by the inclusion of backlighting which we usually don’t find in budget laptops like this one. The trackpad is also pretty decent and helps get the job done.

Being a 15.6-inch laptop, the Acer Aspire 5 is also as portable as some of the lighter laptops out there. The laptop is around 4 pounds which is pretty impressive and you can take it with you wherever you go.

When it comes to budget laptops, you are going to have a lot of compromises and one of the most significant ones is battery life. Fortunately, with the Acer Aspire 5, you get excellent battery life. The laptop lasts about 5 to 7 hours with a regular workload which is unseen in budget laptops.

How good is this laptop when it comes to handling everyday applications? The laptop is powered by an AMD Ryzen 3 3200u processor. This is an entry-level processor from AMD and comes with two physical cores and four logical cores.

For a budget laptop, this processor does a decent job. It handles all your everyday activities like browsing the web, researching, surfing video content on your favorite platforms, listening to music, and so on.

The processor is well complemented by the memory on this laptop. We have four gigs of memory that should come in handy. Though you are not going to be able to do a ton of multitasking, it still allows you to run a couple of apps side-by-side which will come in handy during classes.

The Acer Aspire 5 comes with an integrated GPU. You cannot expect a discrete graphics card in a budget laptop and the same holds here as well. The integrated Radeon GPU that’s well and takes care of your day-to-day graphics needs. If you want to play games, you will have some luck in trying out some mid-range games. For serious gamers, this is not the right laptop.

Storage on this laptop is made up of a 128 GB solid-state drive. Acer could have easily gone with a much more spacious hard drive disk but they went for a solid-state drive which is commendable. Having an SSD is way more important as it gives you exemplary performance improvements throughout your user experience.

Overall, the Acer Aspire 5 is an amazing budget laptop and you get a lot more than you bargained for, making it the best budget laptop for chemical engineering students.

4. ASUS ROG Strix – Gaming Pick

The ASUS ROG Strix Is our best gaming laptop for chemical engineering students.

We chose this laptop as it comes with excellent gaming performance and doesn’t cost you a ton of money.

For a gaming laptop, the ASUS ROG Strix doesn’t look that bulky. Even though the laptop weighs 5.28 lbs, by looks it does not look as big as some other gaming laptops. Your backpack can easily hold his laptop and you can move it around.

The keyboard on this laptop is one of its main attractions. The Aura sync keyboard comes with fully customizable RGB lighting which puts on a show. The N key rollover functionality gives you the ability to give multi-key inputs without creating any confusion.

Since this is a gaming laptop, the WASD keys are highlighted and serious gamers will appreciate this. The keyboard is tested and proved durable for 20 million key presses which inspires confidence. The trackpad on the keyboard comes with two physical buttons and works as advertised.

The cooling system on the laptop is more than adequate. There are three fan modes namely silent, balanced, and turbo that take care of your cooling needs depending upon the performance you cook up.

Each fan comes with 83 blades which results in increasing the airflow by 17%. You also have to note that each fan blade is 33% thinner when compared with traditional blade designs. The anti-dust tunnels help in keeping the fans and the heating clean which will result in improved efficiency and performance stability.

The display here is a 15.6-inch full HD IPS display. For a gaming laptop, this display is pretty good and for the price, you cannot complain. The display quality is nice and gives you excellent pictures when gaming and while consuming media.

If you love watching content on your laptop, this display is a good choice for you as well. The IPS panel provides excellent viewing angles and also improves the output of the display.

There is no lack of processing power in this ASUS ROG Strix gaming laptop. We have an Intel Core i7 9750H processor that comes with four cores. This is a beast of a processor from Intel’s ninth generation of chips. With a maximum clocking frequency of more than 4 GHz, this processor can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

The laptop comes with 16 GB of memory. This RAM should allow you to do multiple things simultaneously without putting any sort of stress on the laptop’s performance. As a gaming laptop, it utilizes this memory beautifully while playing games and while running multithreaded applications as well.

There is a 1 TB PCIe NVMe solid-state drive on this laptop. This is a very spacious storage option and gives you both the storage space your need and also the speed your laptop deserves. 

The SSD is not as fast as some of the other SSDs discussed in the past, but it still is a much better choice than HDDs.

Let’s talk about the graphics card in the ASUS ROG strings laptop. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 is the graphics card here and it comes with a dedicated video memory of 4 GB of GDDR5 type.

This graphics card is based on the Turing architecture and can be compared to the faster RTX 2000 GPUs. Performance-wise, this GPU can be considered an upper mid-range graphics card. When it comes to gaming it can handle most mid-range games and select high-end games without any issues.

This graphics card gives a performance boost to your graphic needs as well. If your discipline needs any heavy graphics work, then this GPU will come in handy.

The laptop comes with a 3-cell 48 WHr Li-ion battery. Bring laptops are not known for their battery life and this laptop is no exception. With a regular workload, you should be able to get around 4 to 5 hours of battery life which is not going to be of any use to a student. So be sure to get a power bank that will allow you to charge this laptop during class hours.

Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix gaming laptop comes at an affordable price and brings you a solid gaming experience. If you are a chemical engineering student who loves to game then this laptop is a great choice.

What To Look For In The Best Laptop For Chemical Engineering Students?

Are you interested in finding the best laptop for you on your own?

We respect that.

Here are some factors you should consider if you want the right laptop for your chemical engineering studies.

Display

When it comes to the display, you should consider factors like screen size, resolution, panel quality, and other factors before you decide on the display.

Let’s talk about the screen size. If you’re looking for a portable laptop, then we should not get a laptop that has a screen larger than 13.3 inches.

If screen real estate is important to you, then you can go for a 15.6-inch display which will give you enough time to deal with more stuff on your screen.

Some love to take notes on the laptop and if you’re one of them, you should get a laptop that transforms into a tablet allowing you to take notes during lectures. Make sure that the touchscreen comes with a good response intake and accuracy without missing anything.

The resolution of your screen is another important aspect. You do not want to get stuck with a display that is blurry and not clear.

A simple rule of thumb is to go for a laptop that comes with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is full HD resolution and it gives you good quality pictures and a blur-free display.

You can also go for quad HD displays and ultra HD displays if you can afford them. But in most cases, it will be overkill and hence we don’t recommend them.

Panel quality is something you don’t want to skimp on as well. Make sure the display comes with an IPS panel so that you have excellent-quality video output at your disposal. If you go for a TN panel or a VA panel come on then you will regret that decision sooner or later.

Getting an IPS panel will also give you excellent viewing angles which makes that display perfect for media consumption and many other things.

Battery Life

The battery life is one of the most important aspects of a student’s laptop.

As a chemical engineering student, you want your laptop to last the whole day without you having to search for charging points. Charging points in colleges are usually very busy and we don’t want you to waste any of your precious time waiting for one.

The laptops we have mentioned above come with extraordinary battery life and they are world by very few models other than that.

Even if you can’t get a laptop with all-day battery life, make sure you learn some tips and tricks to extend your battery life as much as possible.

Ideally, you need a laptop that lasts for about 8 to 10 hours with your regular workflow. If you can get a laptop that satisfies this condition, then you’re going to have a lot of fun at college.

Portability

As a student, you’re going to have to move around a lot.

The portability of a laptop is very important when you need to go to different buildings just to attend lectures.

With a huge laptop, portability is going to be an issue.

If you value portability, do not get a laptop that has a display of more than 13.3 inches in size. This is the right size and you will love the portability that comes with it.

Sometimes, you might need the power of a 15.6-inch laptop. If that is the case, then do not compromise on power. Get the most powerful laptop you can without adding too much weight. The Apple MacBook Pro 16″ is a reliable example.

Power

As a chemical engineering student, you’re going to need a powerful laptop for your everyday needs.

A laptop with an i3 processor is not going to cut. As a bare minimum, you need a laptop with an Intel Core i5 or an i7 processor or an equivalent AMD chip. Make sure that this process has belonged to one of the latest generations and

You can get a dual-core or a quad-core processor depending on your workload. You can get an idea about the workload you will be having from the system requirements of your department.

Also, make sure that the processor comes with a decent base frequency and an impressive Turbo boost of frequency as well. Even though Turbo can kick in anytime, your processor’s base frequency will be used most of the time.

The memory department needs to have a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. This form needs to be of the DDR4 type and should have a minimum clock speed of 2133 MHz.

Having a memory less than this could be problematic for your everyday needs. 8 GB of RAM will give you the freedom to handle more than a few applications at the same time without making your laptop heat sink.

You can also go for 16 GB of RAM if you can afford it. This is more like the perfect amount of memory you want on your laptop so that you can Futureproof your laptop for a few more years.

Storage And Backup

As a college student, you need a laptop that comes with a solid-state drive. Hard drives are a thing of the past and they do not fit well into the student community of today.

Solid-state drives are fast and will keep your performance on point. As a minimum, you should have a 256 GB solid-state drive for storage purposes. You can also go for 512 GB or a 1 TB solid-state drive if you can afford it.

Having a backup solution is very crucial for a chemical engineering student. You don’t want to wake up one day and find all your work gone which would be devastating regardless of the point of your college duration.

Open an account in a reliable cloud service and make sure you take regular backups of your work. Do have two-factor authentication set up in your cloud account so that no one else can access it. Some of the reliable cloud service providers are Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, and so on.

Operating System

Most colleges will want you to have Windows as your main operating system. If your college stresses this, then it is better to go for a Windows laptop.

If you’re not a fan of windows, you can still take the MacBook Road. Get a MacBook and make sure you use Boot camp to install windows as the second operating system. This way you can use Windows on your MacBook with ease.

Graphics

Having a decent graphics card on your laptop doesn’t hurt, especially for a college student.

Most modern integrated Intel HD graphics cards are fine when it comes to a chemical engineering student’s graphics needs. Certain universities do recommend having a graphics card with a memory of 1 GB which does make sense.

If you are a gamer, then you need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. The power of your graphics card depends solely on the level of gaming you are aiming for.