Linux distro (College/Development)

Hello,

I am currently following a college (4 years to go) about Software Development. The following programs will be mainly used on my laptop:

Microsoft Office/Open Office;

Java development (Eclipse software);

Dropbox;

Skype;

Browsing.

However, I am looking for a distro that is not to heavy. I don't need fancy desktop environment tools, as long as the desktop is clean and modern enough to use modern applications (for example; Skype).

My laptop specifications:

• Intel core i5 processor
  
• ATI Radeon 7730M, 2GB
  
• 8GB RAM
  

I tried Fendora, but GNOME 3 is not my cup of tea. Perhaps you can tweak the environment to make it more clean and faster.

Thanks in advance.