Acid

Ordering from Canada. I'm looking for a slightly-better than general use laptop, intended for mild video editing, basic 3D modeling, the usual internet browsing, and of course, Doom. An additional bonus would be some smooth performance on medium-detail games like Skyrim or DS3. I'd like to try a machine that can do some decent OpenGL.

Budget: $1,000 (before tax)

Candidate 1: Samsung

Price: $799.99
Size: 15.6"
Res: 1366 x 768
Processor: Intel Core i5 3230M (Dual Core @ 2.6GHz)
HDD: 1TB @ 5400RPM
RAM: 8GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
GFX: AMD HD8750M Dedicated w. 2GB
No optical drive
"6" Hour Battery Life
~2cm thick, 2.09kg

2x USB 2.0
1x USB 3.0

Noted: potential overheating (no ventilation), matte screen muddles colours

Candidate 2

Price: ~$925
Size: 15.6"
Res: 1920 x 1080
Processor: Intel Core i5-3230M 2.6GHz
HDD: 1TB @ 5400RPM
RAM: 6GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
GFX: Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M SLI, 2GB Dedicated
"3" Hour Battery Life
VGA/HDMI Output

1x USB 2.0
2x USB 3.0

Noted: fingerprint magnet, dirt-cheap trackpad

Candiate 3

Price: ~$599.00
Size: 15.6"
Res: 1366 x 768 "Anti-reflective"
Processor: Intel Core i5-3210M (2.50GHz)
HDD: 1TB @ 5400RPM
RAM: 8GB DDR3
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M Graphics, Optimus technology
~3cm thick, 5.5lbs
?? Battery Life ??

2x USB 2.0
2x USB 3.0

Noted: 1 review stated overheat + crash

Candidate 4

Price: $699.99
Size: 15.5"
Res: 1366 x 768
Processor: Intel i5-3337U (1.8 GHz)
HDD: 750GB
RAM: 8GB DDR3L
GFX: Nvidia GeFroce GT 740M with 1 GB RAM
"2.5" hour battery life.


And, yea, those are my current candidates. As I've no experience with laptops (desktop + mobile phone), I'd like some help with choosing my first laptop. Suggestions and input is more than welcome. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the $799 Samsung because its battery life and decent GFX I can see myself using, but the 2/3 HR battery lives seem really disappointing.