In august i bought myself a laptop, its a Lenovo (IBM), T510. Lenovo now has a new version of this one but they do have other laptops built for your price range. I specifically bought this one to run solidworks, and it is definitely a business/engineering laptop. I bought mine for $1400, on sale :$ . they have sales on their website every so often so if you want to get a good one at a great price wait for a sale (watch on their website or call). Browse the website to get a better idea of the prices and which series that would work for you.
www.lenovo.com