Looking for recommendations on gaming laptop

Folks, I am looking for a mid-level gaming laptop. Below is my criteria.

1_What is your budget?
up to $800 (might stretch to $1000)

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
~15.4 inch

3_What screen resolution do you want?
not sure exactly, whatever the standard is?

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Gaming laptop, will be getting a monitor and usb keyboard/mouse so it will act as a dock when at home.

5_How much battery life do you need?
2 hours, more would be great but I envision being near a power socket most of the time

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)?
games, using medium to high settings
EvE Online, Call Of Duty 4, Battlefield 2

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)
web applications development, apache, coldfusion, eclipse etc
watching blu-ray dvds by hooking up to HD TV

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
250gig, 7200rpm. speed over capacity as I can get an external HDD for data storage

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.
no preference except that they are reputable and have a decent support/returns mechanism

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2+ years

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.
can't think of anything atm

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.
a friend has a half-decent ACER and it has done him well for nearly 2 years now.
Other than that, no preference or experience either way

13_What country do you live in?
USA

Any help is appreciated!