Buying first laptop for school

[mlamb8]

Need a laptop for school i am studying mechanical engineering and need it to be able to reliably and quickly run Solidworks 2013, budget is about $500, needs min 2gb ram, and 2.0 ghz dual care cpu. battery life isnt super important but 5-7 hours probably good. want a decent size screen, 14" and up(prefer 15+), going to be limiting to school work with it as i have a game rig already.

 

[MasterMace]

This one is refurbished, if you don't mind that, seeing as you didn't specify otherwise.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231355

*edit* lists it at 5.5 hours of battery life.

 

[mlamb8]

thanks! I dont mind refurbed, little leery but not opposed. Would prefer windows 7 for anything non touch screen, 8 just seems too confusing, unless anyone has other opinions to share about it?