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You might want to get something with a Quadro or a FirePro. They can't play games, but they work great with CAD. In the very least you might want to consider a GTX 9X0M. If you want a mobile GPU, I highly recommend the GTX 9-series, as they are vastly better than anything else I have ever seen.

Don't worry about how much RAM you get, you can upgrade that easily in almost all cases. Make sure it's not soldered on the mainboard.

Also don't worry too much about your CPU, an SSD upgrade will net you more performance than a bump from i5 to i7. The only downside is that you can NOT upgrade this in almost all cases, so in the interests of future proofing, you might just want to go with an i7. Also, the 3rd gen Intel CPUs are supposedly just as good as the brand new ones (in terms of performance), and are definitely better than the 4th gen. So don't worry too much, unless power efficiency is a concern.

If part numbers are confusing to you, first number is generation, second number is class, and third number is the variant of that class. You typically want each number to be higher, so 4770 is worse than 4890. "K" means it's unlocked and you can overclock, but it's wasted costs in a laptop. This also applies to GPUs.

I should also mention that my friend owns a ThinkPad, and it's horrid. A lot of people say they're great, but they have horrible performance and reliability, save the Quadros.

If you go 15" or under, don't worry about getting a display over 1080p. It's hard to tell the difference, and the more pixels you have, the harder it will be for your little laptop GPU to render everything.

This is my laptop: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NVV2B98/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1  There are some variants that might suit you better, but I am very impressed with it.

MSI also has some very impressive additions to their lineup, however they have worse cooling than the Asus lineup. Same goes for Gigabyte.

Also, I know I already said this, but getting an SSD will improve your laptop's performance a TON. Not only will it increase responsiveness, but it will also increase reliability, battery life, and it will reduce the heat your laptop outputs. The 850 EVOs are excellent and very cheap. 

I would probably recommend above all else that you NOT spend a ton of money on one laptop to use for your entire 4-years. Use the information I've given you to weigh what is most important to you, and don't go crazy trying to get the best you can afford. Technology is advancing at an incredible pace right now, and chances are that even a $2000 laptop will be absolutely crap by the time you graduate.
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