$600 to ~$800; Gaming/CompSci work

1. What is your budget?
Hoping to keep it under/around $700 CAD. This is a bit flexible, but certainly nothing over $850.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
More than 13 inches preferred. No more than 17 inches unless it is unusually lightweight or something.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Greater than 1440x900, but this is not that important.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Desktop replacement, though I will need to take it to some of my classes.

5. How much battery life do you need?
Not very much, as I will have regular access to outlets.

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. I would like to play most current gen Source games (TF2, GMOD, HL2, etc) on medium or high settings. My current desktop
can already do this, and most of the laptops I have looked at have better specs.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Programming (I'm taking a CS program), photoshop/3D modeling, virtual machines.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500 GB minimum. More than 750 GB will not be worth a significant price jump (but I'll take it if its a good deal)

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
I haven't got a list of these.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
Minimum of 5 years; I am looking for long term use.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Doesn't really matter.

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 intend to run Win7, so macbooks of any kind are out of the question. I've been looking at the aspire V3/M3 and toshiba satellite series so far, but I am open to other brands.

13. What country do you live in?
Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I need a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, 8 preferred.
I don't care if MS Office or anything else with good freeware alternatives is included.
Need to get it before September.

Fire away.