Engineering undergrad laptop/light gaming (FAQ used)

Hello everyone. I've been on the forums quite a bit lately, asking for advice on which laptop I should get. During my search, I realized that what I wanted in a laptop was changing based on what I was reading. So, here's a new FAQ with my new wants/needs.

Background info: I will be going into undergrad engineering in the fall of 2015. I'm a senior in high school now, but my schedule mainly consists of classes being taken at the local university for both college and high school credit. From what I have read, it seems that engineering students don't do much engineering work on their laptops; they use school computer labs and stuff (I figure that when I need to do engineering work at home, I'll build a desktop). If this is incorrect, please let me know. I want a high quality laptop with a good warranty and great customer support, lightweight, great battery life, and can comfortably run low to medium games, mostly minecraft and KSP, but a little room for better games wouldn't hurt. I was looking at the Lenovo Y50, but I'm realizing that I don't need that much gaming performance; that's what my PS3 is for! Anyway, let's get to that FAQ!

1. What is your budget?
$1500, but from what I've been reading, I won't need to spend that much.
2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14-15 inch
3. What screen resolution do you want?
1080p and matte
4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable
5. How much battery life do you need?
Lots
6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
Minecraft and KSP on high settings, room to play better games on decent settings
7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
I'll be an engineering student, if that means anything. I'll be doing normal college stuff, mostly.
8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
I'd love a 250GB+ SSD! If that means replacing a stock HDD, I'm down with that!
9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Amazon--but I'm not picky, I'll buy from anywhere.
10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4+ years
11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVDRW (I think?). I have no problem going with an external one.
12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Don't want an apple. BECAUSE BIASED
13. What country do you live in?
USA

Let me know if y'all need to know something else! If there are any engineering students out there, tell me how you use your laptops!