Need new laptop, school and game

Hello, I have a few more semesters left of school until I finally finish my undergrad. It's been tough without a laptop for the last couple years so finally decided to get one.

1. What is your budget?
1200-1400

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1920x1080

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
8 cells

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, mainly Diablo 3 and DC Universe. I'll keep the majority of my games on my gaming rig

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing else really, I want to install some Linux distributions and try to get OSX running on it if possible

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
1TB would be nice but not necessary. 500GB min

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
newegg and amazon would be the best, doesn't really matter though

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
3+ years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD ROM/Writer. and Bluray would be nice too but doesn't have to write blurays

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.
Lenovo (my dad gets a corporate discount from them I believe)
ASUS
no Dells, haven't had any good luck with Dell laptops in the past

13. What country do you live in?
USA

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.