Buying a laptop for school, help?

Going to be buying a laptop for school pretty soon, and I am really unsure what is best for what I need, and really what good laptops are. The most important thing is going to be price, I am pretty limited to about $1000. I am looking for something that is somewhat lightweight, this is pretty flexible, just not looking to buy something super huge and heavy. I would prefer something about 15". Battery life is kind of a deal breaker, I would like something that I can take with me to class and the battery will last at least most of the day. I am an engineering major, so I will need to be able to run programs such as SolidWorks and Autodesk programs, and I would like to be able to run a few games, such as World of Warcraft, but super high performance in the gaming department isn't that important to me, the game just has to be playable. I have been looking into the MacBook Pros, but the 15" model is way to expensive. Do you guys have any suggestions?

 

Please see this forums link, it's hard to specifically recommend a certain make or
machine,as it changes from day to day.

I have written a help guide that could help you

Something back.


http://www.laptop-forums.com/threads/the-basics-when-purchasing-a-laptop.24922/