Laptop for civil engineering degree

First and foremost, Do not get a mac book of any sort, your much better off spending your money on a windows laptop.

Well the main reason I'm going for mac is because of the long battery life which plays a big part in my consideration of laptops, and so far I haven't really been able to find any windows laptops that really stand out (might be a little stubborn of me but I've been avoiding Lenovo as I've had bad experiences with them in the past :P)

Well the main reason I'm going for mac is because of the long battery life which plays a big part in my consideration of laptops, and so far I haven't really been able to find any windows laptops that really stand out (might be a little stubborn of me but I've been avoiding Lenovo as I've had bad experiences with them in the past :P)

Pay the same amount of money you are willing to pay for a Mac, and you will get a windows laptop that stands out.

Well the main reason I'm going for mac is because of the long battery life which plays a big part in my consideration of laptops, and so far I haven't really been able to find any windows laptops that really stand out (might be a little stubborn of me but I've been avoiding Lenovo as I've had bad experiences with them in the past :P)

I'll definitely get the macbook pro. I'll be starting aerospace as well and have decided the buy the 2015 macbook pros. Here's why:

Long battery life - you dont wanna be carrying laptop chargers around campus and looking for places to charge
Reliable - Unlike windows with crappy updates every day, macbook releases solid updates which won't corrupt your work. And the best part is every new macbook update is free!
Good build quality
Apple has shops all around the place and great customer service so even if it breaks, you can just pop up into the shop and they might fix it.

In terms of software package, the main ones like SolidWorks and Matlab runs on macbook so you'll be fine.

The disadvantages are that macbooks cost around £999 however it is a good investment in the long term so I'll go for it.

That statement is just asinine, and simply untrue.
Windows isn't unreliable, and it certainly doesn't "corrupt your work". You also emphasise about OS X updates being free, but that's the case with most operating systems, including Windows.

The choice is yours, although the fact that Macbooks are better isn't true, and it certainly isn't fact.
There are pros and cons to every system, so evaluating them and choosing on your personal needs is the best way to go about it.
For a powerful laptop, the best choice is probably a Windows laptop due to the customisable functions, primarily because there's a much larger choice of Windows laptops as opposed to Macbooks.
I will agree that for the most part, Macbooks have a better build quality than a lot of laptops.
The battery life may be good on Macbook, I don't know as I've never used one, but I'm sure there are other laptops with a good battery as well. So it would be best if you look around more.
A larger storage device would be a good priority, you'll soon run out of space with 256GB.

I wasn't saying it will corrupt your work 100% of the time, but windows is more likely to cause troubles than a mac because Windows has been unstable since windows 8. In terms of the updates, I was talking about major updates like windows 7 from windows 8. However on OS X, going from Lion to Mavericks to Yosemite is free. Apple laptops last a few years longer than windows laptops due to the build quality and you don't wanna be changing laptops throughout the course of uni because 1. you probably wont have cash any more and 2. you might wanna keep your work. Also you dont have to get the 256 flash storage. You can get 500gb hardrive, in my case, I will be upgrading to 1tb (purchasing it from ebay). But I guess everyone has their own and this is mine

Im sure OP had probably made their decision already and just wanted some confirmation from TSR. I have no interest in debating whether MAC is better than Windows laptops or vice versa because different people have different opinions . I'll choose mac on any day if I need a reliable laptop and my main goal is to use it for uni work. (and have the money of course)

The problem isn't have a debate, or expressing your opinions. It's the fact that you're using invalid 'facts', or anecdotal evidence in place of actual evidence.
If you want to buy a Macbook, then fair enough, but don't start slandering other laptops that you seem inferior with false facts.

Im sure OP had probably made their decision already and just wanted some confirmation from TSR. I have no interest in debating whether MAC is better than Windows laptops or vice versa because different people have different opinions . I'll choose mac on any day if I need a reliable laptop and my main goal is to use it for uni work. (and have the money of course)