As a former engineering student and current aerospace engineer, I've learned just how important it is to choose a laptop that can run whatever CAE / CAD applications I spend the most time in. For me, that's SolidWorks, and I've tested quite a few different laptops to find—what I believe—are the top PCs for SolidWorks 2023:
One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that you do not want to purchase a "fad" laptop. Windows-based laptops designed for gaming are actually typically able to run most softwares like SolidWorks and MATLAB but your battery life will also suffer.
You'll want to be sure to limit yourself to SolidWorks specification requirements. The most important ones I'd prioritize are:
Processor — 64-bit, Intel or AMD
Memory — 16 to 32GB
Graphics — SolidWorks has a very helpful guide of certified cards and drivers, and you can check our list of the best GPUs for SolidWorks
Operating System — Windows 10 or Windows 11
And since SolidWorks runs on one core as a single-threaded application, you'll want to narrow yourself to computers that have great single-core performance — signs of this are usually a higher clock speed and a decent CPU architecture. If you're doing a lot of rendering though, it could be worth exploring 8-12 core processors as well.
In terms of GPU, I've mostly included laptops running one of the latest NVIDIA RTX models, a processor above Intel i7, and for RAM you'll want to be looking at a sweet spot between 16 to 32 GB (64 is a little overkill honestly).
Let's dive into the top 5:
Overall Best Laptop for SolidWorks 2023
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is by far the best laptop for SolidWorks under $3,000 on Amazon, and one of the best laptops with an NVIDIA graphics card.
The 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX processor is, for a lack of better words, elite. With Windows 11, 32GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card, this laptop meets every SolidWorks spec and is all-around just a blazing fast, high-quality computer.
Best Budget Laptop for SolidWorks
The ASUS Dog Strip G16 meets all the requirements (and then some) of running SolidWorks, but is one of the few priced below $1,500 on Amazon.
Their 2023 version is just as cheap, and comes with an i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and runs Windows 11. You're not sacrificing much in the graphic card department either, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 chip being highly reliable for these types of applications.
Best Dell for SolidWorks
Dell is a fantastic laptop brand for running SolidWorks so of course I had to include the XPS 15. It's only slightly more in price than the Ron Strix G16 and also runs an i7 14-core processor. It is an upgrade on memory and storage though, with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
Honorable Mentions
The Lenovo ThinkPad E15 isn't sexy, and it's not going to turn any heads — but I really don't think that matters when looking for a good laptop for CAD. This laptop, for the price, is snappy and charges insanely fast. Sure, its display isn't great, but I'm typically using this laptop with external monitors regardless.
5. Acer Nitro 5
The Acer Nitro 5 is actually one of my favorite laptops for gaming, but after testing, I think it also works wonders when it comes to running AutoCAD and SolidWorks too.
I'd love to hear from any fellow engineers or students that have a good laptop for running SolidWorks, so be sure to drop a comment below if yours didn't make the cut.