Need help buiyng laptop

Hi, first of all im from Argentina, so sorry if my english isnt the best.
Im planning on moving to the US to go to college. Ill probably study grafic design. Im also hardcore gamer

1_What is your budget?
From 1000 u$s to 1500 u$s

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Big one, full keyboard and more than 17''

3_What screen resolution do you want?
At least 1280x720

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement laptop

5_How much battery life do you need?
Ill probably need 5hours+ . But less isnt a problem.

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)?
Yes, (COD, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3)(I know they didnt came out yet)
I always played in High, i dont know how a laptop would handle it.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)
All of them. (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
250GB at least, im planning on buying a 1Tb external drive.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.
I dont.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4 years at least.

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.
Id like to have win xp, so if i can get it already installed better.
Full keyboard, built in cam.

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.
I dont mind.

13_What country do you live in?
I live in Argentina, but im planning to move to Arizona on January.

Thanx! thats a great laptop.
I dont know the M series of nvidia.
I saw a lot of latop grafic cards, i dont know how to choose one, neither the gpu.

Does anyone know about a external HD that doesnt need power suppy, of can work with both? 1Tb HD

Thanx