Need a new laptop for college

1_What is your budget?

~$1200. But I can go a little more if it means I can get what I want.


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

13" or 14", preferably 13".


3_What screen resolution do you want?

Whatever. I do prefer 16:10 over 16:9 though.


4_Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

I am looking for a balance of battery life, power, and size.


5_How much battery life do you need?

As much as possible.


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)?

I do not plan to play games on this laptop. However, I would like to have the ability should I choose to. That being said, playing on "High" settings would not be a priority.


7_What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo / Video editing, surfing the web, playing music, watching movies, Etc.)

I do a lot of video encoding (i.e., ripping DVDs and encoding them for my iPod). That's pretty much the most strenuous thing this computer will be doing.


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

As much as possible. Preferably at least 320GB, but I'm flexible on that.


9_If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post the links to them.

Any reputable site/company.


10_How long do you want to keep your laptop?

At least until I'm through with college. So three to four years.


11_If you would like to mention some other things about purchasing your ideal laptop, post them.


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?

USA

The Dell Studio 14z is a nice fit, though you'll need an external DVD drive for it. It's still way under your budget.

I had been looking at the N81 previously. I had a few beefs with it though:

~T-series proc (rather than P-series) - decreases battery life
~32-bit OS
~Poor battery life (my friend has a very similar Asus and he gets only ~2hrs on battery saving mode)
~And the biggest one: Even though the screen is an inch smaller, physically it's the same size as my old 15.4" laptop. And I was really looking for something a little smaller.

These don't disqualify it completely, but I was looking for alternatives.