Laptop Recommendation for College?

I'm in desperate need of a new laptop for college. I definitely wouldn't consider myself a gamer, but when i'm bored I do play some PC games (i.e. Lol, dota 2, skyrim, saints row iv, gta, assassin's creed, etc.) So I need a laptop that can handle editing photos and HD videos, along with the occasional game. I've come to the conclusion that my best bet would be to get a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, but do I actually need a "gaming laptop"?

My budget is ~1500$ and I'm only considering laptops weighing 5.5lbs or less. I'm not too picky when it comes to battery life, but I'm a bit picky when it comes to appearance. Please don't recommend anything that even resembles alienware. I don't need/necessarily want some clone of a macbook, but just… Something subtle, please.

I've been looking at the lenovo u530, the lenovo y50, the lenovo y40, and the dell inspiron 15-7000. Though all of these are ok, each of them tends to be lacking in some essential quality. (ex. Questionable build quality, very bad color accuracy, weight over 5.5lbs, etc.) Since I'm asking for recommendations, though, I'm definitely open to new suggestions!

Toshiba satellite P75-A7100. I have been using it for couple of months and it seems like what you are looking for. Only thing I'm very pleased about is the battery life… But I'm near a plug 95% of the time so it's not a big deal.

Will not recommend a specific machine. There may be hundreds of machines that fit your bill for school, but not for gaming. Laptops are not intended for gaming (unless specifically mentioned in the specs.) Any machine will work for school (ued to be only MACs were allowed).
For gaming if you get the specs of the game(s) and compare to what machines are available to you, you will stand a chance.
Note: that the limited space in a laptop also limits the kind of hardware that will fit.
EXAMPLE:
Skyrim Specs: (Video Graphics is where most machines fail the test)
You do need a machine that meets these requirements for Skyrim.
Recommended
-Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
-Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU processor
-4GB System RAM
-6GB free HDD (Hard disk drive) space
-DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon HD 4890 or higher
-DirectX compatible sound card
-Internet access for Steam activation