Laptop for Game Programming

Hi all, I've been studying C++ programming for about 2 years now, working towards a career in game development. My current laptop is pretty basic and didn't support shaders, which was a problem for the last year, but now I'm upgrading and could use a laptop with a little kick. Primarily I'll be using this for lots and lots of programming so it needs to be as quick as I can reasonably get it, but also need a decent graphics card.

1_What is your budget?
$900 - 1400 (wiggle room here if necessary)

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
17 in. max

3_What screen resolution do you want?
Nothing specific

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Primarily desktop replacement, though I never needed much in a desktop

5_How much battery life do you need?
Will be plugged in most of the time, though I'd like at least 1.5 - 2 hours if possible

6_Do you want to play games with your laptop?
Not much of a PC gamer, if it can play TF2 on medium that'd be fine enough

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing,watching movies, Etc.)
Not much more than programming, rendering, and sound editing

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?
At least 500gb

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Nothing specific

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3-4 years

11_What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Just needs to be able to read/write to DVDs/CDs

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.
No particular brand, I've heard Asus is reliable though from what my friend had seemed to generate a lot of heat

13_What country do you live in?
USA

14_Please tell us any additional information if needed.
If there's an option for a better heat sink that would be nice, I'd like to minimize heat generated. I'd also like to get it before school starts in about 2 1/2 weeks and have access to student versions of all necessary software so that's not a concern.


Thanks in advance for any advice