Hey Z, if you are looking for something under 1k then I recommend DELL. Those peeps have tons of coupon codes available online. All you have to do is add a coupon (
www.xpbargains.com) and you get discounted up to 750. As for the battery life, they offer an 80w battery which gives my brother (according to him) 4 hours.
All you need to do is go to xpbargain and put "dell _model type_" and youll get coupons. If you have a hard time looking for them or getting the coupon to add correclty, gimme a shout.