1st Laptop Owner - Need Suggestions

1) What is your budget?
$1300 Max (with Shipping and Tax)

2) What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15-17inch. I'm really torn between a 15 or 17inch monitor. On one hand, a 15inch monitor is more mobile and light, but a 17inch monitor will replace my desktop.

3) What screen resolution do you want?
Nothing less than 1280 but prefer the best for my budget. I definitely want something vivid.

4) Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement

5) How much battery life do you need?
Anything decent. This laptop will most likely stay at home. I'd say 90% at home and 10% mobile.

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)?
I hardly play PC games anymore since I own a PS3, but if I do play games it's most likely strategy games likes Ages of Empire or sports games like NBA 2K9.

7) What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)
I mainly surf the web, listen and watch movies, play some games. I don't do much photo or video editing but I always use PShop for their features. I often use MS Office for work and school when necessary. Might learn some Adobe products like Dreamweaver.

8) How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
Not sure. I don't save many movies in my computer but if I did, I would probably use a dedicated external hard drive. I do want a quiet hard drive though.

9) If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.
Anywhere reputable. I prefer using the Bill Me Later method because they currently have a 6 month no finance fee.

10) How long do you want to keep your laptop?
5+ years. Will likely get a desktop in the future when I move to a bigger place and replace the laptop I'm buying now with a more mobile one.

11) If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.
I would love to own a back-lit keyboard if possible, and I would prefer to have the 9 keyboard thingie on the right hand side so I can quickly type in the numerical numbers. A slide-in CD-rom would be great too. Last thing would be an expansion slot like what Lenovo Y730 has for their laptops. Stylish shell, thinner than normal, and nothing over 8lbs.

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.
Brands doesn't impress me, what I'm interested in are the components and hardware inside the laptop.

13) What country do you live in?
United States. California