Need a laptop for engineering

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
$2000 max

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
15"+

3) Where will you buying this notebook?
Canada

4) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Engineering computer work (MATLAB, SolidWorks, Excel, Word), taking notes, Netflix, light photo/video editing (Photoshop, maybe adobe premiere).

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both, not sure if I will buy a monitor and keyboard to hook up the laptop to at my desk.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
No not really, gaming performance is not an issue

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
around 6 hours, mild use, while using Word/Excel, with some internet tabs open

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
I would prefer to see them in person but I would consider just buying it online.

11) What OS do you prefer?
Windows, specifically 10

Friends recommended I look at:
-ASUS Vivobook Pro
-Lenovo Legion Y520 (I like this one except the battery life is under 4hrs)
-ASUS ROG Strix

TLDR; need a laptop for general first year engineering. 15.6" screen, 4+GB RAM, Windows 10, good battery life, webcam

I'm not a computer person so if you are I would love to hear your opinion.

*** more info in comments, not enough characters****

Guest

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
I don't want that weird gamer font for the keyboard it gives me a headache! And if the laptop isn't covered in gaming symbols and tons of red that would be great. Something black and lowkey is preferred.

15) When are you buying this laptop?
As soon as possible.

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
3-4 years or more.

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need? Do you want a SSD drive?
I was recommended to look at laptops with both a SSD and HDD. I probably am going to buy an external hard drive for photo and music backup anyway. Generally though I would prefer more space.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?
No

Other
-school says I need at least 4GB RAM but friends told me at least 8GB
-school says I need a webcam
-was recommended to look at laptops with the i7-7700HQ processor
-apparently I need a dedicated graphics card

Guest

Buy one

Ash

HP Envy with an i7 and 16GB of memory for about 1200USD or MSI GP72VR 7RFX Leapord PRo 1500 USD. I'm on the MSI right now. They both get decent PCMARK8 scores. The MSI is a little better. Both have 17.3" screens, I like to be able to see, I don't spend a lot of time carrying them and lets face it, it is some exercise. The MSI as the name implies is VR Ready. Steam doesn't agree but that is not an issue as I built a VR machine that blows this away 5500 PCMark8 or better than 92% of others on average. There's a new PCMark 10 I haven't tried yet. Sorry to be bragging, but… Anyway look at both. Make sure you get SSD OS drives and an ancillary internal 1TB HDD. The SSD boot FAST! The HDD is for storage. Piece of advice, 3 external drives for backup, not 1, not 2 but 3. I have one in my safety desposit box. The computers could all blow up tomorrow and I don't care, I want all my pictures and music and documents. You can get 1TB drives for 60USD a pop. IF you lose your thesis or something, than WHAT? I've seen people fall down and cry begging the professor. The cloud is great if you want the whole world to see your life and work. And then comes the day the FBI closes the cloud down for nefarious doings. IT HAS HAPPENED, I'm NOT LYING! Recently Amazons Cloud just Glitched and companies lost data.

Marduk

No, I don't, but thanks for asking.

micksmixxx