The Best Laptops for AutoCad in 2020
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1. Lenovo Thinkpad P72

Lenovo can't seem to stop amazing tech enthusiasts.

They have come with yet another beast laptop for autocad that is here to leave a mark, it is not just another laptop, it is a powerhouse featuring a powerful Nvidia Quadro P5200 Max-Q GPU, some bleeding edge security features, a world-class keyboard, packed into a compact chassis.

Overall, the ThinkPad P72 offers great graphical capabilities, however, you will have to deal with the dull 17.3-inch display.

Design

While the ThinkPad P72 (7.7 pounds, 16.4 x 11.1 x 1.0~1.2 inches) did slim down a little bit from the ThinkPad P71 (7.95, 16.4 x 10.8 x 1.2 inches), it's still quite a thick machine, which is exactly what you would expect it to be looking like, all macho and powerful. The hood is soft to the touch and is home to steel ThinkPad logo and a red LED light. When opened, two grey hinges are visible from the back that expose two steel hinges that hold the chassis in place.

The display is surrounded by thick bezels, with the webcam occupying the usual position, the top bezel.

The speaker vent is carved into the deck just above the keyboard. The keyboard features a number pad with backlighting.

You should check out our 17 inch laptop guide as well, If you are looking for a bigger laptop with a 17.3 inch screen.

Performance

This Lenovo is fitted with the Intel Xeon E-2186M processor and 16GB of RAM, so it can handle more than you can throw at it. On the Geekbench 4.1 performance test, scoring 18,176, which falls below the 20,161 workstation average.

On the HandBrake benchmark, however, the ThinkPad P72 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in just 10 minutes and 25 seconds, blowing past the 11:36 category average.

Lenovo's 512GB SSD took 9 seconds to copy 4.97GB of data, translating to a 565 megabytes per second transfer rate. That's a bit slower than the 635 Mbps.

2. HP Zbook G5 15

This laptop has got you covered, the raw power that comes from its 8th Gen Core i7 processor and Nvidia Quadro P2000 GPU, enough to handle all your computer’s heavy lifting.

Everything, from the chassis to the keyboard, those epic Bang & Olufsen speakers and the battery, has a premium quality look and feel. The touchscreen display is also a nice touch. This laptop is guaranteed to get you value for your money's worth.

Design

At 5.7 pounds and 14.8 x 10.4 x 1.0 inches, the ZBook 15 is a giant compared with its fellow workstations. Unlike its stylish sibling, the ZBook Studio x360, the ZBook 15 is a meaty grey brick. It is a thick and bulky laptop for autodcad, but with its own unique design quirks. The HP slash logo on the hood, for instance, looks undoubtedly good I must say. The grey on this laptop is a bit too much.

The machine has a fingerprint reader on the right-hand side just below the keyboard. The Bang & Olufsen speaker vent is found above the keyboard. The thick bezels above and below the screen are one of the biggest design flaws the machine has.

Performance

The ZBook compensates for its design flaws with its amazing performance powered with the  Intel Core i7-8850H vPro processor with 32GB of RAM.

On the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance test, the ZBook 15 scored 22,013, sailing past the 20,598 workstation average.

On the HandBrake benchmark, the ZBook 15 converted a 4K video to 1080p in 9 minutes and 53 seconds, finishing over 5 minutes faster than the workstation average (15:01).

The ZBook 15's 512GB SSD copied 4.97GB of data in 10 seconds, for 508 megabytes per second, which just misses the 564-MBps category average.

With Nvidia's Quadro P2000 GPU, the ZBook 15 scored 6,121 on the 3DMark Fire Strike graphics benchmark, and while that's below the 6,732 workstation average, the ThinkPad P1's Quadro P2000 GPU (6,044) and the Precision 3530's Quadro P600 (3,860) did even worse.

The ZBook 15 wrecked shop on the Dirt 3 benchmark at 235 frames per second, soaring over the 187-fps category average.

3. Dell Precision 5510

This laptop is one for mistaken identities with its premium look-and-feel, aside from its blazing fast SSD and discrete graphics. The  2.8-GHz Intel Core Xeon E3-1505M processor, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia Quadro M1000M GPU with 2GB of graphics memory give this laptop a snappy performance.

Dell managed to use the right combination in every aspect to create a laptop for autocad that is worth taking a crack at. The slim chassis, a bright infinity display with almost no bezels, give this laptop beauty that always comes in handy when choosing a laptop for yourself.

Design

The 5510’s lid and bottom are made of dark silver aluminium. Inside, there is a premium carbon-fibre deck with a soft finish.

The infinity display is included in the design, with an unnoticeable bezel that has the webcam to the bottom of it.

The laptop is light and slim as it rightly looks. If tapers down toward the front.

Performance

With a 2.8-GHz Intel Core Xeon E3-1505M processor, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia Quadro M1000M GPU with 2GB of graphics memory and a 512GB PCIe SSD, this machine gives a snappy and responsive performance.

The Precision 5510 scored 14,136 on Geekbench 3, a synthetic test that measures a computer's overall performance. That's higher than the category average of 11,329.

The SSD in the 5510 is insanely fast, taking just 9 seconds to copy 4.97GB of mixed media files, for a speed of 565.48 MBps.

4. Lenovo Y7000 Legion

From a first look, the Lenovo looks fancy with the curves and all, looking like something from science fiction films you’d say. The laptop also has one of the best keyboards around giving you one of the best typing experiences you can get around. The display is also on point featuring a 15.6 inch wide 1920 by 1080, meaning it comes with a standard HD display that looks great but it could be better. 

It is easy to say that this laptop for autocad is all about looks but is the furthest thing from the true potential of the Lenovo. It is a beast performance wise with better than average battery performance. Under the hood, it features a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1TB 7,200-rpm HDD. This machine can get the job done and it is serious about it.

Design

At 5.3 pounds and 14.2 x 10.5 x 1.0-0.9 inches, the Legion Y7000 is lighter and thinner than the Acer Predator Helios 300 Special Edition. Lighter means that it is more portable than its counterparts, which I must say is a plus for extra convenience.

The Lenovo features an iron-grey aluminium good that curves down to an angled hinge. The vent with grills makes this laptop look and feel like a sports car, with the logo on top of the hood driving the point further home. The keyboard looks and feels good to the touch, with backlighting enhancing the experience of using the said keyboard.

The laptop also has a very nice, colourful HD display gag will blow anyone’s mind. The 15.6-inch display is crowned with thin bezels all around, however, this comes at a cost for the webcam which has been placed at the bottom bezel which means awkward video call angles.

Performance

The 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-8750H processor coupled with a whopping 16 gig RAM means that this beast of a machine can tear through layers of tasks just to work up an appetite.

On the Geekbench 4.3 performance test, the Legion Y7000 nailed 22,474, leaving the mainstream gaming laptop average (20,748) far behind.

On the HandBrake benchmark, the Legion Y7000 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in just 9 minutes and 24 seconds.

Lenovo's 256GB SSD copied 4.97GB of data in 8 seconds, for a blazing-fast transfer rate of 636 megabytes per second that nearly doubles the 328 Mbps category average.

5. Asus Vivobook S

This laptop proves that you do not need a lot of money to get yourself a laptop that performs surprisingly well thanks to the  Intel Core i5-8250U CPU and 8GB of RAM that manages to put a smile on your face every time you use it. It has cool new features like the new Ergolift hinge that raises your laptop at an angle that cares for your hands each time you type.

It also comes in several striking colour schemes like the gorgeous turquoise green and blinding yellow.

Design

VivoBook S15's five colour options: star grey with yellow trim, and firmament green. The other three finishes are gunmetal, silver blue, and star grey with red trim.

The ErgoLift, the clever elevated hinge introduced on the ZenBook S, makes a comeback. This time, the back of the keyboard tilts upward at a 3.5-degree angle. This offers a more comfortable typing experience and improves audio and heat management.

At 14.2 x 9.6 x 0.7 inches, the VivoBook S15 is relatively compact for a 15.6-inch laptop.

Performance

The S15 also did well, its score of 12,163 on the Geekbench 4 overall performance test edged out the mark from the Lenovo Ideapad 530s (Core i5-8250U, 11,966).

The VivoBook S15 needed only 25 minutes and 38 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution using the HandBrake app, comfortably beating the 28:39 mainstream-laptop average.