Need Help Finding a New Laptop

Hey guys,

I'm looking to replace my aging Dell notebook. So here it goes..

1. What is your budget?
Around $500-$750 USD

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
Somewhere around 15"-17"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1600 x 900 - 1920 x 1080

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Not a full on desktop replacement laptop...somewhat inbetween the two.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Not a huge factor, will be mainly plugged in when used.

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)? Skyrim, AC:Revelations, basically some of the newer games coming out; around medium settings.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.) Other than gaming, mainly used for movie watching, documents, and surfing the web.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
At least 320gb, more would be nice.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
Maybe Bestbuy(mainly for financing options), Newegg, Amazon, etc.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Maybe around 3-4 years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD is fine, wouldn't mind if it came with bluray.

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.

Dislike: Acer, Gateway, Compaq......had some bad experiences with these brands

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I'm having a bit of a dilemma debating between getting a notebook with either a AMD A6/A8 or a i5 ( i7's are a bit out of budget). Also, I would like to stick to discrete graphics if possible.

Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance for your help!