Buying A Laptop For School

[MDS1005]

So, after years of procrastinating, I'm finally going back to school for computer science. Looking into buying a laptop first, a new desktop second. For now, I am just looking for recommendations on a laptop. Here is my criteria:

-$1500 USD or less
-Size does not necessarily matter
-Uses will include coding, virtual machines, web browsing and other school related tasks. NO GAMING.
-4.5 Hour + battery life
-Prefer widescreen
-Will last 3+ years to get me through school

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[01001010]

ThinkPad T500

Apple MacBook

Dell XPS 1530

HP EliteBook 8530p

 

[AzNVi3t2007]

That Dell XPS is nice. I dont recommend getting Dell Inspiron 1525 because I receive atleast 5 phone calls per day with that computer and its issues...Funny thing is, I won a 1525 at work, had for 3months and never failed me. I installed Vista Ultimate but I ended up selling it.