Buying A New Laptop. Good Ideas?

I'm a brother of the person who owns the account (Nate).

1_What is your budget?

$800, give or take about $400 or so.

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

7 lbs or less. Need portability.

3_What screen resolution do you want?

Not too crucial. Do want a bright screen that won't kill the battery time.

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

Desktop replacement. I'm attending Kettering University, so I will be moving from school to a job every 3 months, bringing it to classes, work, etc.

5_How much battery life do you need?

Greater than 5 hours, with medium to heavy usage. They may have computers for the tougher computer usage classes I'm taking. I start around 8 in the morning, and end at about 3 I believe, and I don't want to plug it in during class.

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)?

Really only Starcraft 2. The original is my all time favorite game and I can't pass this one up.
I would like to reach about medium settings for this game, but I can settle for low.
http://us.blizzard.com/support/art [...] leId=26242

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)

I need a built in video camera for video chat.

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?

120 GB at minimum.

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

I want to consider a variety of brands. Dell, Asus, Acer, etc.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

For the duration of school, so about 4-5 years. Obviously if needed I can upgrade, but I would like to aim for that.

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?

DVD READ, CD R/W.

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'm not too tech savvy right now, so I don't have any brands to recommend.
Do not like HP: My brother bought one and it wasn't good. Sounds petty but I don't really like the name either... =].

13_What country do you live in?

Michigan, United States.

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
This laptop will be for school use only. This includes a little bit of Starcraft playing... However, I am a Computer Science Major, so I would like a computer that does more than Microsoft Office.

I had not considered Alienware, since I just assumed they would cost too much. Looks reasonable though.
Thanks for the quick response.