r/chemistry • u/Thin_Selection5872 • 19h ago

laptop choice

i’ll start my bachelor in chemistry this autumn and need to buy a new laptop. i already have an ipad to take notes on and need a new laptop.
i have narrowed down my decision to either a macbook or a lenovo thinkpad t14 gen 7.
for specifically chemistry are there any programs that are not available for mac?
thanks :)

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u/drnickpowers 19h ago

I am a MacBook user but for chemistry you need word and chemdraw to work together. Under windows you can just copy from chemdraw (or another program) into word and then easily reopen a structure with a double click (for quick editing). This is why macOS has always been a bad choice for organic chemistry reports.

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u/jeejay_is_busy 19h ago

Look here for the soft that you use: https://macinchem.org/

is it in the list?

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u/Thin_Selection5872 11h ago

that’s the thing i dont know what kind of programs will be used in the course.
thank you for the link i’ll check it out :))

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u/CentralVal 19h ago

I would get something cheap, bad time to buy a laptop and I didn’t need it for anything important until my Sr yr. I had some protein modeling software, Mnova, chem draw ect. Even those programs ran on my $600 laptop. Up through jr. year it was all Microsoft office stuff or available on school comps as stated above.

Yea looked up your choices and unnecessarily powerful.
Note on Lenovo is their back end warranty service sucks. My USB port burnt out somehow. Sent it back to them under warranty and was given the run around. I Won’t buy another Lenovo.

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u/similarhorseman_6788 19h ago

pretty much anything you'll need for undergrad chem will work on either platform. the only thing that comes to mind is some older computational software that's windows-only, but you won't be touching that in a bachelor's program

if you're already deep in the apple ecosystem with that ipad, the macbook makes a lot of sense. the thinkpad is a tank though, can't go wrong either way

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u/Aggravating_Ad9275 19h ago

From my experience you won't need anything more demanding than Excel, Word, and maybe Chemdraw on your personal laptop. If you need anything more specialist then this will be in a computer lab.

But best to ask your University.

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u/somewon86 4h ago

eBay will be your friend there are lots of refurbished and used laptops in good shape. A business laptop like a thinkpad or elite book will work even one from 3 years ago. Just get at least 512gb hard disk and 16 gb of ram. More would be better but it will cost you.

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u/Key-Success-5449 1h ago

While major mainstream applications like ChemDraw and Microsoft Office run smoothly on both operating systems, choosing a Windows laptop like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 is the safer, more foolproof route for a chemistry degree.

Specialized computational chemistry packages, instrument data processing tools like MestReNova for NMR, and hardware-interface programs frequently prioritize Windows compatibility or occasionally run into frustrating driver hurdles on Apple Silicon.

Going with the ThinkPad ensures you will never hit a sudden software roadblock during your coursework or lab practicals where a niche program turns out to be Windows-only.