5 Best Laptop For Construction Management (2023)
Rumbling around the internet for the best laptop that can handle your construction business? Since our experts worked with some of the best owner-builder of different countries, we have successfully been able to come up with the list of best laptops for construction management.
Before we handover you the best laptop of 2021, it’s important for us to know what type of person you are? That means if you’re a professional construction manager, the Lenovo legion 5 laptops would be a brilliant choice for you. Otherwise, for students who are completing their bachelor’s degrees in construction management, the Acer Aspire 7 laptop should be enough for their practical project.
Why need a laptop for construction management? The answer is simple, a laptop is a must-have device to run your project smoothly and unerringly.
As a construction manager, manage the entire project’s plan, schedule, cost, quality, safety, scope, and function, having the best laptop ensures your plans will perform accurately while eliminating the chances of failure entirely.
The same thing goes for students of the CM department. Also, the best construction management laptop will help them in terms of complete their assignments via using the important software that they need.
If you’re a civil engineer and finding the best laptop that could be easy for you while working on a project with a construction manager, then these options are not definitely suitable for you. You can check another article regarding this topic where we covered the list of best compatible laptops since you civil engineers need to deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment.
Minimum Laptop Requirements For Construction Manager
- Processor: Intel Core i7 (8th generation) or better
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Display Card: 4GB GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) or better.
- Disk Space: 1TB HDD (7200) & 512 SSD
- Screen Size: 15” is enough but 17” could be better for your professional tasks.
Minimum Laptop Requirements For Student Of Construction Engineer Or Management
- Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Multi-Core i7 or i5 Series Intel processor (2+ GHz).
- Memory: 8GB
- Hard Drive: 500 GB HDD or 256 GB (SSD)
- Video Card: 3D-class video card with a minimum 1 GB (recommended 2 GB) of memory
- Screen size: between 14-17″, 10 key, HDMI port
Top 5 Best laptop for construction business & Management Students
- Acer Aspire 7
- Lenovo Legion 5
- Apple MacBook Pro
- Dell Latitude 14
- Panasonic Toughbook CF-5
- Newest Lenovo Ideapad 3
Acer Aspire 7
This laptop is something that brings two professions closer. That means, no matter who you are a civil engineer or a construction manager, Acer aspire 7 is one of the best and cheapest combo laptops that will come in handy for both positions. This laptop will perform best for construction managers and especially department students. In the case of civil engineers, this laptop is ideal only for students not for professionals.
It’s packed with 9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H Processor which performs really well while running construction management software like GanttPRO, BIM 360, Acculynx, Jonas Premier, Procore, CoConstruct, Buildertrend, Knowify, ProContractor, PlanGrid, Projectmates, eSUB Subcontractor, WorkflowMax, SiteMax, BuildTools, Radar, Jonas Enterprise, and CommittedCost.
Also, it has a wider screen where you can look at your projects plan and spreadsheet. The 512 GB fastest SSD drive and 8 GB ram ensure run software and file pretty fast during project management time.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
| PC Type: | Laptop |
| PC Series: | Acer Aspire 7 |
| Processor: | 9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H Processor (Base Clock 2.4GHz, Max Boost Clock Up to 4.1GHz, 8MB Cache, 14nm CMOS, 4 Core, 8 Threads, 100°C Max Temperature). |
| Memory: | 8 GB of DDR4 RAM (Can be expandable up to 32 GB) |
| Storage: | 512GB PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive which can be upgraded with an M.2 or SATA drive |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 7858, Single Thread Rating: 2372 Cross-Platform Rating: 15,020 |
| Graphics: | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM, best for planning and creating designs, work with every construction management software. |
| Display: | 15.6 inches full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED-backlit IPS display |
| Communications: | Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth |
| Warranty: | One Year |
| AC Adapter: | 65W |
| Camera: | 720p Webcam |
| Keyboard: | Backlit keyboard |
| Operating system: | Windows 10 |
| Ports & Slots: | A number of USB 3.0 ports: 2, Number of USB 2.0 ports: 1, and Number of HDMI ports with HDCP support: 1, Headphone jack, WAN port. |
| Battery: | Up to 7.5 hours battery life |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 14.31 x 10.02 x 0.92 inches Approximate Weight: 4.73 lbs |
Lenovo Legion 5
If you need the overall best laptop for construction management at an affordable price without compromising performance and required hardware, then Lenovo legion 5 is the best option you can get right now. It’s packed with an AMD Ryzen 7 powerful processor and a dedicated GPU from Nvidia which comes with 6 GB of VRAM.
Also, the 15.6 inches screen is big enough for looking at the larger spreadsheet files and plans. The 16 GB of DDR4 ram ensures multi-tasking while planning your entire project. It has an enormous amount of space since it’s equipped with the fastest 512 GB SSD drive, which allows users to save their files and ensure the fastest opening when they need it in time.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
| PC Type: | Gaming Laptop |
| PC Series: | Lenovo Legion 5 |
| Processor: | AMD Ryzen 7 4800H (Base Clock 2.9GHz, Max Boost Clock Up to 4.2GHz, 4MB L2 & 8MB L3 Cache, TSMC 7nm FinFET CMOS, 16 Threads, 105°C Max Temperature) |
| Virtual Reality Ready: | This laptop has the required specification to run Virtual Reality hardware and software smoothly and is compatible with Oculus quest 2, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and vice pro 2. |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 19204, Single Thread Rating: 2655 Cross-Platform Rating: 27,084 Cpu Benchmark Position: #1 |
| Memory: | 16GB DDR4 RAM |
| Storage: | 512GB SSD + 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD |
| Graphics: | Dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU |
| Display: | 15.6″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS anti-glare, 144Hz Display (45% NTSC, 250nits) |
| Color Gamut: | Provides 100 percent of the sRGB color |
| Communications: | Wifi6 (802.11ax 2×2) and Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Camera: | 720p HD Webcam |
| Keyboard: | Backlit keyboard |
| Warranty: | One Year Support From Legion |
| AC Adapter: | 170 W |
| Audio: | Dolby Atmos® headphone support, 2 x 2W Harman Kardon® speaker system |
| Operating system: | Windows 10 Home (64-bit) |
| Ports & Slots: | 4 x USB-A 3.2, 1 x USB-C 3.2(DisplayPort), 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45), 1 x Headphone/microphone combo jack, Kensington lock slot. |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 14.3″ x 10.2″ x 1″ Approximate Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5kg) |
| Battery: | 4-cell 60Wh, Up to 7 hours battery life |
Apple MacBook Pro
It’s right that from designing to physical built planning, every person should rely on a windows laptop, but this barrier is only for civil engineers. Construction managers are free to use MacBook for their projects since they will need only to plan, look at designs and cost calculations.
MacBook Pro is the fastest device for productivity tasks compared to windows laptops. It’s apples’ fast laptop that comes with its own M1 chip, which is based on a SOC technology where they input ram, 8 core processors, 7 core GPU, 16 core neural engines, and lots of technology.
Note: For students of the construction management department, “The CM department highly recommends that the student purchase a windows laptop as many of the programs will not run on a Mac. Buying a Mac laptop for the Construction Management department will ensure that you will have difficulty in completing assignments.”
The best part of this laptop is its display and battery life. You can use this laptop to run construction management software for up to 12 hr at a 2k resolution display. The display is clean and provides the brightest color, which will help you to see the 3D designs of your project perfectly.
The only downside of this laptop is this mac bigslur os doesn’t support all construction management software natively but you can run them via the rosetta virtual system without slowing down your MacBook.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
| PC Type: | MacBook |
| PC Series: | MacBook Pro M1 |
| Processor: | System on Chip (SoC) Apple M1 chip; 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores;16 core neural engine. |
| Memory: | 8 GB of RAM (Can be expandable up to 16 GB) |
| Storage: | 256 GB Solid State Drive, which can be upgraded up to 2 TB |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 15110, Single Thread Rating: 3767 Cross-Platform Rating: 9970 Cpu Benchmark Position: #3 |
| Graphics: | M1 Chip Integrated 8 Core GPU |
| Display: | 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch (500 nits) |
| Communications: | Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Warranty: | One Year Support |
| AC Adapter: | 30 W Fast Charger |
| Camera: | 720p Webcam |
| Keyboard: | White Backlit keyboard |
| Operating system: | Mac Bigslur OS |
| Ports & Slots: | 2 Thunderbolt 4 port |
| Battery: | 5152 mAh, Up to 20 hours battery life |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 13.41 x 11.97 x 0.61 inches Approximate Weight: 3 lbs |
Dell Latitude 14
Construction sites are all the danger. Many construction managers need to oversee the projects multiple times via traveling from the bottom to up. Every Time they have to carry their laptop with them. That’s why some managers feel to need a rugged laptop in order to eliminate the risk of causing any damage during project managing time. The Dell Latitude 14 is the best one for construction managers.
This laptop comes with minimal requirements such as an Intel Core 4th Gen. i5-4310U Processor, 8 GB Ram, 256 GB SSD, and an integrated processor. Spec-wise this laptop is not the best option among all of our lists, but it’s the most durable compared to other construction management laptops. Also, it comes with a 14-inch display which is built on 720p resolution but features a touch screen function. This will come in handy while planning projects and perform presentations among teams.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
| PC Type: | Rugged Laptop |
| PC Series: | Dell Latitude 14 Rugged |
| Processor: | 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4310U Processor (Base Clock 2.0GHz, Max Boost Clock Up to 3.0GHz, 3MB Cache, 22nm CMOS, 2 Core, 4 Threads, 100°C Max temperature). |
| Memory: | 8 GB of DDR4 RAM (Can be expandable up to 16 GB) |
| Storage: | 256 GB Solid State Drive, which can be upgraded with an M.2 or SATA drive |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 2466, Single Thread Rating: 1469 Cross-Platform Rating: 5057 |
| Graphics: | Added some muscle behind your multimedia with discrete graphics options and up to 16GB of ultra-fast memory |
| Display: | 14-Inch (1366×768) Outdoor-Readable Resistive Touchscreen display with 60 NTSC and 270 nits of brightness. Due to average brightness, this display is suitable for long-term use. |
| Communications: | Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth |
| Warranty: | One Year |
| AC Adapter: | 60W |
| Camera: | 720p Webcam |
| Keyboard: | Backlit keyboard |
| Operating system: | Windows 10 |
| Ports & Slots: | No Optical Drive, USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt 3, 3 x USB 3.0, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x Audio Combo Jack, 1 x Fingerprint reader, 1x Smart Card Reader. |
| Battery: | Up to 8.5 hours of battery life |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 17.4 x 14.4 x 5 inches Approximate Weight: 7.77 lbs |
Panasonic Toughbook CF-5
If you are in pursuit of the best-rugged laptop for construction management, or the one that comes with the best value, Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 should seriously come into your closer consideration. Compared to Dell’s rugged laptop, Panasonic is far better in terms of specs and price.
Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 has a built-in 10th Gen Intel Core i5 Processor which offers 2 GHz+ clock speed and performs better while open projects on construction management software. Also, this laptop is equipped with 16 GB of ram, which is decent for multi-tasking as the ram type DDR3 and offers 1333 MHz clock speed. The 1 TB SATA SSD has made this item unbeatable at this price range.
But keep in mind that this rugged laptop isn’t future-proof like Dell latitude 14 and not included any dedicated GPU. You can compromise this side as long as you don’t need a device for heavy use, this laptop would definitely work for your construction business.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS:
| PC Type: | Laptop |
| PC Series: | Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 |
| Processor: | Acer Aspire 5 Mobile Processor (Base Clock 2.5GHz, Max Boost Clock Up to 3.2GHz, 3MB Cache, 14nm CMOS, 2 Core, 4 Threads, 100°C Max Temperature). |
| Memory: | 16 GB of DDR4 RAM |
| Storage: | 1TB Solid State Drive, which can be upgraded with a SATA drive |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 2234, Single Thread Rating: 1370 Cross-Platform Rating: 4615 |
| Graphics: | Intel HD 3000 Graphics Video Card |
| Display: | 14 inch HD (1366×768) Display which is decent for streaming, gaming, multi-tasking like designing with adobe software, video editing, and more. |
| Communications: | Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth |
| Warranty: | One Year |
| AC Adapter: | 72W |
| Camera: | 720p Webcam |
| Keyboard: | Backlit keyboard |
| Operating system: | Windows 10 |
| Ports & Slots: | 1 USB 3.1 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and 1 HDMI port, 1 WLAN port, 1 power cord. |
| Battery: | Up to 6 hours of battery life |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 18 x 17 x 5 inches Approximate Weight: 7.93 lbs |
Newest Lenovo Ideapad 3
Lenovo Ideapod 3 2021 is the newest laptop which is made with keeping in mind for businesses like construction management. It’s slightly different from other traditional laptops, as Lenovo gives much importance to multi-tasking rather than visualization.
I loaded this laptop with Quad-Core i5-1035G1 which practically beat i7-8550U in performance. We have tested some of the project management software like Trello, Wrike, Basecamp, Zoho Projects, LiquidPlanner, Microsoft Project and they performed really well.
The chief attraction of this laptop is the 20 GB DDR4 ram, which helps to run the software smoothly. you will not face any problems during multi-tasking or browsing. Now, boot up your laptop and software fast, load your files faster than before with 512 GB NVMe PCIe SSD drive.
This laptop comes with a 15.6″ FHD display, thin bezels look nice during project management. Also, the Lenovo Ideapad 3 is available with 17 inches display, it’s preferable for those who need a laptop with a large screen to manage plans, spreadsheets, and 3D designs.
| PC Type: | Laptop |
| PC Series: | Lenovo Ideapad 3 |
| Processor: | 10th gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor (Base Clock 1.0 GHz, Max Boot Clock Up to 3.60 GHz, 6 MB Cache, 14nm CMOS, 4 Core, 8 Threads, 100°C Max Temperature). |
| Memory: | 20 GB of DDR4 RAM |
| Storage: | 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (Solid State Drive) which can be upgraded with an M.2 or SATA drive |
| Benchmark CPU Score: | Average 7884, Single Thread Rating: 2339 Cross-Platform Rating: 13,422 |
| Graphics: | Intel UHD integrated graphics card |
| Display: | 15.6-inch FHD LED Anti-glare (1920 x1080) Display |
| Communications: | Wifi 5 and Bluetooth |
| Warranty: | One Year |
| AC Adapter: | 80W |
| Camera: | 720p Webcam |
| Keyboard: | Backlit keyboard |
| Operating system: | Windows 10 |
| Ports & Slots: | Number of USB 3.0 port: 2, Number of USB 2.0 ports: 1, and Number of HDMI ports with HDCP support: 1, Headphone jack, WAN port. |
| Battery: | Up to 9 hours battery life |
| Additional Information: | Dimensions: 14.26 x 9.98 x 0.78 inches Approximate Weight: 5.59 lbs |
FAQs Of Best Laptop For Construction Management
Is MacBook good for construction management?
According to the Construction Management department, it’s better not to use MacBook, especially for students. Because mac os doesn’t support much essential software which will need while completing projects or assignments. In case you bought the MacBook, you can still use it for your degree, but it will require you to follow other ways. Though you can run software in your MacBook those will not serve you naturally.
What software I used in construction management?
If we include some of the popular construction management software such as GanttPRO, BIM 360, Acculynx, Jonas Premier, Procore, CoConstruct, Buildertrend, Knowify, ProContractor, PlanGrid, Projectmates, eSUB Subcontractor, WorkflowMax, SiteMax, BuildTools, Radar, Jonas Enterprise, CommittedCost, etc.
What software I used in construction management?
According to the hive, there is 54 popular project management software available and we have listed a few among them such as Hive, Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Nifty, Workfront, Smartsheet, Wrike.
Conclusion
Construction management jobs aren’t so tricky as engineers’ tasks. Since you have to only oversee and planning the entire project by monitoring your staff and engineers, a laptop that comes under $1000 is perfect for your construction business.
We have also listed some rugged options for you who want maximum security alongside performance. But the only downside of these laptops is not future-proof. Nowadays, software’s are upgrading pretty much fast than the previous generation and continuously they are introducing new technology along with updates. In order to run this software, throw your budget and go for a premium laptop with advanced specs.
Our laptops are compatible with many construction and project management software and come with an average 15 inches display.