As my XPS 1340 seems to be failing a bit more every day I have started considering what to do for my computing needs again... I have a very powerful desktop for gaming however that has been banished by the Mrs to the "office" (it is a shed at the bottom of the garden) and as a result I dont really use it as much as I would like. Perhaps I should sell it but I feel sure I would miss it and no one would want to pay me for my build job so I would just be left with selling components. At a loss. Besides my steam account is vast (maybe I should sell that too....

Work computers suck the big one and cant really handle my spreadsheets let alone my databases so I am considering using a personal machine to cover that failing as well, if IT allow it...
All the above leaves me wondering on a new laptop. What I want is:
- i7
- dedicated graphics (not hardcore gaming level but good enough for arkham city or civ)
- ips display, at least 1080p
- 8+ gig of ram
- 256 + ssd (would happily take a dual solution of a hdd and ssd to maximise space and speed)
- battery life of 6 + hours on tasks like word processing, browsing, spreadsheets etc (would be awesome if it could do video playback for that time as well though)
- less than £1600... in fact if it could come in under £1k that would be perfect as I will have to make sacrifices with the Mrs to get this
So far I am coming up with the Asus u500vz but I would love to hear some of your guys opinions on this as I haven't spent as much time tech lusting as I would like lately so I may well be missing a trick here.