$1000 ~ 1200 Budget laptop for performance

1_What is your budget? $1000-1200 (preferrably 1150 or less)

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? 15.4 or more

3_What screen resolution do you want? Any

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? Can I say both? My plan was that since I combined 2 of my computers into one, Im lacking 1 comp, so might as well get a laptop for portablity (and it saves energy)

5_How much battery life do you need? Doesnt really matter, as long as its not rediculously short

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, the upcoming Diablo 3 (they have not yet released the system req for this game, but I hope to play it in at least high settings). Other than that, the only other games I play ATM are free MMORPGs, CS-Source, FEAR, and maybe some RTS.

7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.) I will be video editing (I make a lot of AMVs and homemade animations), mainly 2D stuff. I will use Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Virtual dub, etc. IF i can install a a Sound card, I will also use it with my Midi controller/Piano and do some music editing *do some laptops come with dedicated SD? can you install one?

8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need? Doesnt Matter to me, although if possible it should have a 7200 rpm HD. If not, I could always replace it with one, right?

9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them. As long as they mail to US...

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop? About 2-3 years

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them. Basically, Im only looking for a laptop that has a good Processor and a good enough Video Card (but processor is my first priority). And for RAM, as long as I can upgrade it, I dont really care for it, as long as its at least 2 gigs, which is the ideal for Vista.

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. Any brand is fine for me... though I like Nvidia... Asus... Intel processor... Only because thats what I have for my desktops...

13_What country do you live in? United States

List of specs ranked by priority
1. CPU: Must be the best I can get for the budget... I dont know much about the Mobile cpus, since this is my first time researching them (I know more about desktop ones)
2. Vid Card: Must be able to play Diablo 3 in the future... Im sure that if it can play that game, it can play any of the other games I play.
3. Size: 15.4+, I prefer 17 inch since I will be doing Vid editing on it
4. Ram: At least 2 gigs, and possibly upgradable?
5. HD: Any, as long as I can replace it with a faster one

What can I get as of today?
and...
Since Black Friday is coming up, huge sales will hit the stores... so tell me what specs to look for when that day comes (assume that there will be $1500 laptops on sale for $1100-ish)

That might be slightly bottlenecked with a 5400rpm HDD. Maybe something like this:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/produ [...] =customize

Buy the M50v from GenTech PC and customize it to add the 7200 RPM Drive.

Best computer if need for a combination of uses. Comes with a 9400 CPU at 2.53 GZ and 4 GIGS of DDR2 ram. From what I understand, includes a fingerprint reader that works very well and TPM security as well as facial recognition.

Can upgrade monitor from 1400 x 900 to 1680 x 1080, can select which OS you want, can even upgrade to a 9 cell battery at Gentech PC. Great keyboard, one of very few 15" computers with a numeric keypad. No keyboard give or very little. Excellent screens at all resolutions, especially the 1680 x 1080.

Also, they have a $200 discount if purchased by the end of march for one M50 model, the one I will probably buy.