Gaming laptops only have 3-4 hour batteries, better off getting an $1200 Ultrabook if its for Uni.

Go asus/toshiba.

Compare specs - i5 v i7 will only matter for stuff that isn't games, more than 8gb of memory isn't necessary, a single 560 gpu will be fine, hard drive size is up to you.

Pick the one that fits your budget.

MacBooks for the best battery life but not many games are compatible..

EDIT: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1013_1262&products_id=17819

Have a look and see if it meets your needs.. Only a ~3hr battery life though

Edited once, 5/2/12 - 1:55pm.

basic.
I understand that ultrabooks are cheaper, longer battery life, but their capabilities don't really extend beyond web browsing and word processing.
While the battery life is is terrible on higher end laptops, I do need something with a bit more grunt as I will be doing Computer Aided Design and it unreasonable to be carting my desktop to and from the place where I will be living in Melbourne twice a week (I plan to come home when I don't have uni).

How easy is it to buy an extra battery? Even a 6 cell battery just to give it that extra kick if it gets low in a lecture. Personally, I'd like to be able to find a compromise between power and battery life, so on one hand it will easily handle CAD and at least play games like battlefield 3 on medium and hold 30fps, but on the other hand last a few more hours just to withstand the time it takes to sit through a class or two (life of maybe 5-7 hours)
I've had no prior experience with CAD, so I really don't know how much power is required to handle this, and same goes for games. I'm more a casual gamer with 60% of my games on xbox and the other 40% on pc, so I don't really know a lot about the requirements for gaming either. I'm just going off information people have told me.

I can vouch for the g74 laptop as I have one, bought of ebay for $1250 it arrived with zero problems and works fantastic. Runs bf3 great and anything ive thrown at it so far. For the price this thing dominates the market. Its quite heavy,solid and is in no way meant to stray far from a power point.

www.ebay.com.au/itm/ASUS-G74SX-17-3-i7-2670QM-3-10Ghz-Turbo-16GB-nVIDIA-560M-2nd-Gen-LAPTOP-/360424443033?pt=AU_comp_laptop&hash=item53eaf88c99

I just bought the stock g74 without adding anything

That laptop is a refurbished item. Do not buy it.

It is worth remembering that you will normally have access to power most of the time while at University, in my experience at least, so as long as your laptop can handle a couple of hours for a single lecture or tute without power it should be fine. I think you will definitely appreciate being able to actually play real games when you have downtime at uni, not to mention taking it to LANs or a friend's place. We have a couple of options in our Vector Series that might suit if you wanted to check them out.

I create my own timetable for uni on the 16th of this month, maybe when I do that and find out the kind of lengths I will be away from a power source I will be able to decide what style laptop I purchase. I totally agree about appreciating the ability to play games in my down time.
What are these Vector Series?

Also, this looks very, very appealing
www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/g74sx-tz048v-asus-g74sx-tz048v-p-53256.html?sort=2a
Provided I can survive at uni with low battery life.

The Vector Series are our laptop offering at Frag Labs, you can check out of entry 15" model the F15 here: http://www.fraglabs.com.au/product/vector-f15/

On the site you can find the Plus model which offers more customisation options as well as the 17" model. Our laptops are built on the Clevo platform by Horize. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.