Need laptop suggestions

So here's the scoop: I need a new laptop. I'm starting my 3rd year of college and starting next year I'll be entering a pretty solid Information Security program. Trouble is, my laptop is dying. But it rightfully should, it's about a 6 year old Toshiba Satellite that is technically a hand-me-down (I inherited it when the 3 year old Toshiba Satellite I was using decided to commit suicide and fry the motherboard. Not really worth fixing, so I just took over this one. But now this one overheats randomly if I tax it too hard..you know, like watching YouTube videos...). Anyway, it's seen enough teardowns and rebuilds for any computer's life, and my 8+ year old desktop (originally built for gaming) has seen 10 times that number.

I'm admittedly a bit lost though. Back in the day I was pretty well up to date on the new tech, brand quality, etc. I even built that desktop from scratch (hey, it's held up for over 8 years. I did alright Just did a rebuild on it a couple weeks ago, actually.). But since I haven't really been heavily in the computer market for a while and rather just jerry-rigging what I have, I'm not exceptionally familiar with everything now.

Here's what I'm looking for:
- Laptop in the 15"-16.5" range (I like a larger screen, but still want to maintain some portability. The satellite I run right now is I think around 14" and it's a bit too small for my taste.)
- Quad core processor, preferably 2.0GHz (seems like the i7's are the most common in that range right now, at least from my research so far. i5's come in quad flavor as well, but more commonly found in dual core.)
- At least 6gig of memory starting out, or cheaply expandable to 6+. Would like to have plenty of expansion room, since this laptop will be my main computer preferably through the rest of college and beyond. The wiggle room would be greatly appreciated.
- Devoted graphics. More of a nitpicky thing than a necessity, but it's going to be my primary and I've hated having two laptops with integrated graphics. As for what type... I'm still very much in the dark here as to what's what.
- Preferably somewhere in the $1300 and below range, though I'm willing to go up to maybe $1500 if I really need to

That gives you an idea. So far it seems like what I need to be looking at is gaming laptops, since they seem to focus on quad core and devoted graphics more than the multimedia and business oriented machines. I'll use it for some gaming if it'll handle them (there have been a few games released over the last few years I'd like to try, but just don't have the power for right now), but it won't be the primary use. It'll be an all-arounder. Word processing, networking, internet, multimedia, experiments, test server... whatever needs done.

Brands are the big question right now. I was pretty much set on the Asus G53SW-XN1 off Newegg, but I read quite a few reviews that spoke of power supply issues (namely the button failing - often straight out of the box - and breakage in the outlet on the back). After having 2 Apple devices that have similar issues, I'm not too excited about dealing with that sort of thing... Sadly, it seems like a solid computer otherwise, and I found the Asus build structure (as in how much give there was in the screen when closed, etc) to be the most solid, which is also a necessity for me since I do carry my laptop to school frequently.

So what can you guys recommend? I'm definitely not asking you to buy me a laptop; it's my job to do the research. Just looking for some opinions and perhaps recommendations on what sort of hardware/brands may fit my needs!

Thanks a lot!

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