3 Best Laptops for Building Information Modeling (BIM) in 2024
From this article, you will know what are, in our opinion, the best laptops for BIM you can buy and use in 2024.
Building Information Modeling is the process of digitalizing structures and buildings in the form of 3D models. We do it so we can make better planning on the structures and buildings we manage through their visualization and simulation.
To do BIM work, we can use a laptop. As a laptop is portable and can have the capabilities to run BIM software well, it is probably the most preferred device to use for many people. However, as BIM software can be demanding for a laptop to run, the laptop you use should have the right specification quality so you don’t encounter considerable lags or even crashes when you work.
If you want to do your BIM work using a laptop but don’t have a capable laptop yet for that, you might be interested in buying a new laptop. However, it can be confusing to pick the right laptop for BIM work from many laptop models and specification choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has compiled a list of the best laptops for BIM that you can make as your laptop-buying reference.
Want to know more about the laptops we suggest for BIM and the reasons they are recommended? Let’s start digging into the list right away.
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| Image | View on Amazon | Product |
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Dell Precision 7780 | |
 
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Lenovo ThinkPad P1 | |
 
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Lenovo Legion 5 Pro |
Table of Contents:
What are the Best Laptops for BIM?
Now, let’s see more about the laptops that make it to our list of excellent laptops for BIM. Using one of these laptops should give you the laptop support you need to build the 3D models of the structures and buildings you plan on more optimally.1. Dell Precision 7780
Dell Precision 7780 is the first laptop we recommend to support you when you do your BIM work. It is an excellent workstation laptop from Dell with powerful specifications to manage tasks related to BIM well.
To run its operations, this laptop uses a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 64GB RAM capacity. They should be more than adequate to run the BIM software you use smoothly. The RAM capacity, in particular, is large and allows this laptop to multitask a lot for you without lacking the memory space it needs for that.
To render the 3D models you build, there is an NVIDIA RTX 4000 ADA GPU with 12GB VRAM in this laptop. It is a quality GPU that specializes itself in professional work so it should work well with the processing needed in BIM software. There is a full-HD webcam as well to help you communicate more clearly when you do video calls with your colleagues to discuss your work.
When you need to connect to external devices, there is a full range of ports with two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the sides of this laptop ready for you to use. All in all, this Dell Precision 7780 can be an excellent laptop choice for you to do your BIM work with.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 17.3 inches, 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with speed up to 5.3 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 64GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 4000 ADA with 12GB VRAM
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 9 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support BIM work
- Sturdy build
- A full range of ports with two Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Bright display
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- Bulky
2. Lenovo ThinkPad P1
Lenovo ThinkPad P1 is another laptop that can be splendid to use for BIM work. Coming from the popular Lenovo ThinkPad series, this workstation laptop is reliable and should be up to the task of helping you model structures and buildings in the software you use.
This laptop has a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and 32GB RAM capacity to back up its performance level. These are fine specifications to have for a laptop and should handle your BIM software without much problem. You can upgrade the RAM capacity later up to 96GB should you feel you need more memory space for your work activities.
When you need to process graphics in your BIM software, this laptop has an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU with 12GB VRAM to help you. With the capability of this GPU, you should be able to render your 3D models quite fast. In terms of connectivity, you should be well supported by this laptop too as it has a full range of ports that consists of two Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The keyboard of a ThinkPad laptop is one of the best around so you should feel comfortable when you need to input something on your 3D models or create documents related to your work. Overall, this Lenovo ThinkPad P1 seems to be a solid laptop to accompany you when you try to model the structures and buildings that you need to manage.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 16 inches, 2560 x 1600 pixels
- Processor: 13th Gen Intel Core i7 with speed up to 5.2 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 32GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 with 12GB VRAM
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 6 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support BIM work
- Solid build
- Quite sleek and lightweight
- A full range of ports with two Thunderbolt 4 ports
- Good friendly-to-the-eye display
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- Can get hot under an intense workload
- Average battery life
3. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro is the last laptop we have on this list. It is a gaming laptop that seems very suitable to support what typically needs to be done in BIM work looking at its specifications.
Performance-wise, you shouldn’t worry about this laptop. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor and 32GB RAM capacity to help you work optimally in your BIM software. The AMD processor has a fast base clock and turbo speed to give you a stable performance when you use this laptop.
As for the GPU, it uses an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU with 8GB VRAM and 150W TGP. It has powerful graphic processing in it to help you model smoothly. When you need to work for long hours, this laptop’s friendly-to-the-eye display can make your eyes get much less strain compared to if you use many other laptops.
Looking for a capable laptop to help you with your BIM work? You may want to strongly consider buying and using this Lenovo Legion 5 Pro laptop.
Key Features
- Screen Size, Resolution: 16 inches, 2560 x 1600 pixels
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with speed up to 4.7 GHz
- RAM Capacity: 32GB
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB VRAM
- Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD
- Battery Life (Estimation): up to 4.5 hours of usage capacity
Pros
- Excellent specifications to support BIM work
- Solid build
- HDMI and lots of USB ports
- Good friendly-to-the-eye display
- Stretchable hinge (up to 180 degrees)
- Comfortable keyboard to type on
Cons
- No SD card reader slots
- Meager battery life
What are the Things We Should Consider When We Want to Buy a Laptop to Do BIM Work?
Here are the things we think you should consider when you want to buy a laptop to support your BIM work.- Processor. BIM software can be demanding for a laptop to run. Thus, the laptop you buy should have an excellent processor to run it smoothly. We recommend a laptop with at least a late-generation i7 or Ryzen 7 processor for this
- RAM capacity. BIM software can take up a lot of memory space in your laptop so the laptop you buy should have a large RAM capacity to anticipate that. We recommend a laptop with at least 16GB RAM (although it is much better for future proofing if you can buy a laptop with at least 32GB RAM) for this
- GPU. Work like 3D modeling usually needs an excellent GPU in the laptop you use so it can be done much faster. We recommend a laptop with at least an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB VRAM for this
- Storage. You may need to store a lot of large-sized files related to your BIM work internally on your laptop so you can access them much easier later when you need them. To accommodate those files, the laptop you buy needs to have adequate storage space. We recommend a laptop with at least 512GB SSD storage space for this
Wrap Up
When you want to buy a laptop, you may want one that can help you do your BIM work smoothly. However, it can be confusing to pick the right laptop from many laptop choices out there. This is why Compute Expert has created a list of the best laptops for BIM to help you.To summarize, here are three laptops we recommend for BIM.
We hope our list can help you buy the best laptop to support your BIM work splendidly!
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