Laptop as College PC/Secondary Gaming Machine

[rjkucia]

I'm looking for a lightweight laptop to use in college. Its primary uses would be basic college note taking and whatnot, and also mobile gaming. However, this is not my main PC, as I will still have a desktop to play games on, so lowered settings in some games are fine. I would definitely like good battery life (5hrs+ ideally) and small screen size (<15"). Higher resolutions are better, but I would like at least 1366x768. Some of my current candidates are the Alienware M11x or M14x. I also like this Acer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215110
I would, however, prefer an optical drive if I can get one (I can always settle for an external one if I have to). Hard drive space and memory aren't very important, as I can always upgrade those for pretty cheap. Price is less of a priority also, but <$1000 would be great. Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[rjkucia]

After further research, I'm leaning more towards the Acer, however I would love to find a similar laptop by a more "reputable" brand like Asus. The Acer laptops have been reported to have thermal issues, where the CPU overheats and throttles itself during gaming. I would also prefer it to be black, can't say I'm a fan of the blue

 

[rjkucia]

Alright, well I went ahead and got the Acer, we shall see how things turn out