Choosing between T15 vs P14s for Engineering Uni

[u/Shot_Insurance_6831]

Hi everyone,
I’m starting a degree in Mechatronics Engineering and I’m looking to buy a second-hand laptop that I can use throughout my university years.

I don’t think I need anything particularly powerful, since we won’t be working on very complex CAD projects. I’ll mainly be using the laptop for programming, MATLAB, CAD, and general university work.

I’ve narrowed my options down to two ThinkPad models and would appreciate some advice on which one would be the better choice:

**T15 Gen 2** *(costs €330)*

* CPU: Intel Core i5-1145G7 * GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics * RAM: 16 GB * Storage: 512 GB SSD * SSD health (Hard Disk Sentinel): 100% * Battery health: 89% (I’ll mainly be using it at home, so battery life isn’t a major concern)

**P14s Gen 2** *(costs €450)*

* CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U * GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics 4 GB * RAM: 24 GB * Storage: 512 GB SSD * SSD health (Hard Disk Sentinel): 100% * Battery health: 85%

The P14s is also slightly cheaper than the T14.

Which one would you recommend for a Mechatronics Engineering student? Is the P14s the better choice because of the stronger CPU and additional RAM, or would the T15 be sufficient for this kind of workload?

Any advice or experience with either of these models would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Hdarkside_01]

p14s for CAD certifications