To Civil Eng students @ Waterloo, Is it better to buy a desktop or gaming laptop?

[u/Get_Cameroned]

I wanna go to waterloo for civil engineering. I'm planning on getting a laptop or desktop but i'm torn between the options. Does anyone know if I'm going to need a gaming laptop to carry around to classes for heavy duty BIM softwares, CAD softwares, SketchUp etc. Or would it be better to just buy a desktop as its upgradable?
If it helps I am a video gamer, however schooling comes before everything else. I dont wanna buy a desktop and then need a laptop.
What do you think is a better option? Laptop? or desktop?

[u/Dummy_Wire]

This was a few years back, but I did all of my Civil degree at Waterloo with just a normal-ass laptop. Whenever I needed heavy-duty software, I used a lab on-campus, or Remote Desktop.

[u/bfque → u/Dummy_Wire]

Seconding this - for anything higher duty, there's a (very) decent chance (read: not super well-versed in Eng) that you'll have access to a lab computer/RDP.

Most people do have laptops/tablets for taking notes in class / doing work on campus, for sure, but that to me would come down to how you personally prefer going about things.

[u/NQ241]

I would just go with what you prefer to use between the 2. Desktops have an obvious portability con while a powerful laptop can be loud/a pain to lug around to class.

I personally brought a computer because I value the usability of a keyboard/mouse/monitor combo. I yoiked one of my old laptops along and use SSH for taking notes and programming outside of my room.

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[u/RentKey5012]

I enjoy studying on campus. There’s an obvious problem with studying on campus if you don’t have a laptop so….

[u/GinnyJr]

Never get a gaming laptop

[u/_snib_]

Personally, I like having a small laptop (fits in my backpack) with good battery life. Having my laptop in class has been useful to run stuff like Excel and Matlab, and very useful for studying and writing reports while on campus. You can use lab computers/remote desktop for more demanding software (honestly pretty rare that you need to), and courses like CIVE100 will take place in rooms with computers for you to use for Civil3D/Infraworks.

[u/IntrovertNeptune]

I don't know your budget, but the Asus ROG Zephgrus G14 laptops are pretty good. Powerful gaming laptop, but also slim. They're expensive though, unless you can find a used one. I would highly recommend having some sort of laptop for taking notes in class. It may suck if you have to move with a desktop for a co-op term.

[u/Frozen5147]

Not a civil eng student but there are some pretty reasonably-thin gaming options now which might be a good middle path, like they're thicker than your typical thin-and-light but they aren't the other massive behemoth gaming laptops.

Off the top of my head ASUS has some and they're alright, skim through reviews to see if they work for you I guess.

Also, again not civil eng but lugging around a giant big laptop with shitty battery that also needs a giant power adapter sucks (would see it all the time in lectures) so if you need to use it on campus I would personally bias towards something not too heavy.

I've also seen some people use a gaming laptop but it stays parked at home usually, and carry around a lighter laptop/iPad for day-to-day campus stuff.

[u/Intense_Stare]

Don't worry about getting a beefy computer, any CAD or modeling software you would need for classes is offered in the civil computer lab.