13-14" Laptop for College

Hi guys, I'm looking for a 13-14" laptop for college. I was originally set on the xps m1330, but as of late ive been reading about heat and mobo issues, so I got a little scared away. (can anyone cofirm this by the way)...

1_What is your budget?

<1050

2_What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

3_What screen resolution do you want?
higher the better

4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable
5_How much battery life do you need?
respectable
6_Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
css, fear. The ability to play games is way less important to me than build quality, battery life, etc
7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)
Work, photoediting, standard multimedia stuff


8_How much storage (H.D.D Capacity) do you need?

im planning on buying a vertex ssd
9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?
4+ years

11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.
Also essential to me is the ability to purchase an accidental warranty plan

12_Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.

13_What country do you live in?

I hope this can help people to better find their ideal notebook.