Recommendations on a sub $1000 gaming laptop

[qwikstreet]

I'm looking into buying my first Windows machine. I've owned nothing but Mac and cheap unix desktops. My current mbp is just a few years old and its time to upgrade and cash in on the tradein value of the mbp. I am looking for a below $1k laptop and will go with Windows just for the fact that I want to explore the larger library of games. (I've always been a console gamer so this is a new adventure for me.)

I'm going for a laptop for the mobility since I travel for work and I also want to use my computer away from my basement office. My home office already has dual monitors in place. 

I was looking at the Acer Aspire 17inch but the battery life was pretty low (not like that is a big feature to me). If I do at least half of my laptop time in the home office (dual monitors), then do I really need a 17inch or should I look at better 15inch models?

Does anyone know of any worthwhile laptops coming out in Q4 2014?

 

[Megazell]

What games to you plan on playing because the moment you enter the laptop arena for gaming you have to accept a great deal of compromise. However, if you were going with a desktop then the (hardcoded) sky is the limit.

 

[qwikstreet]

I know there will be a limit of what I can get but the mobility will allow me to write some of it off to work. Games to start off would be Civ5, guild wars type game, and whatever i catch on a deal or strikes my fancy. 

 

[Megazell]

ASUS N550JK - This one was on sale for $800 at Microcenter in NYC last time I checked. It's decent and can covers those games easily.

 
Lenovo Y410p - This one I have. I got it as a gift recently and it's a good machine. The only gripe I have (which I think is true for most Windows 8 machines out there is that you have to do a trick to get the bios up - which is important for making it great for gaming). I put LM 17 on it and it flies with any game I throw at it.

 

[qwikstreet]

The ASUS N550JK is on my short list I was looking at. The Y410 wasn't but the Y510 and Y50 touchscreen were. I'm sure I will need to get my FPS fix on and as long as it can run on semi-high settings and look good, then I will be fine...for now.