Need some advice on a laptop

[yonbuilt]

Hello all, I've been lurking these forums the past few days and I am really impressed with the amount of knowledgeable and helpful folks on here. I haven't owned a laptop for probably 15 years and have been building desktops for the past 10 years. I've decided I'd like to have the versatility of a laptop in addition to my main desktop computer(s). I have my eye on several different computers, but I just figured I'd ask for some advice and see if I'm looking in the right direction.

1) What is your budget?
Would like to keep it around $1,000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
USA

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Most brands; partial to Asus since I have had great experience with their motherboards over the years
b. Dislike: No preference

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
Possibly

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Photo management, backup and light editing with Lightroom while traveling (will do heavy editing on a desktop), a little bit of gaming

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
Eve Online, occasional FPS

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
As much as possible; 8 hours would be great

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
On-line is fine

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) Screen resolution?
I see a lot of 1366x768 screens in the size range I'm looking at, but not really sure what else is available. Since photo editing is one of my interests, I would like to max out resolution for the size laptop I'm looking at, but I recognize certain limitations (cost, size of screen)

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Glossy (better for photo?)

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
No

15) When are you buying this laptop?
As soon as I make up my mind

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
3 years

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
500gb minimum

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
No

[tnad]

Since you know a lot about computers and the specifications, it's better I let you decide what laptop is best for you. Go to xoticpc.com and limit the laptops by screen size (either 13 or 14 inch). All the laptops that will come up are Asus laptops. They have them nicely organized with processor, video card, weight, and battery life information. You will probably be able to tell which processor is best (i7>i5>i3>all else). As for the video card, check out this link: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Typically 3dmark06 scores tell you which card is better. They won't be that high anyways for very portable laptops. These usually have nvidia cards with optimus for long battery life.

[yonbuilt]

Thanks for the input, I'm pretty comfortable with various computer components and I have a pretty good idea what I want to get. I was more or less hoping someone might suggest a computer that I was unaware of or maybe had not initially considered.

Edit: BTW, the computers I'm considering are the Asus U31J (when it is released), the Acer 3820TG (which is impossible to find) and possibly even the U33jc (although the performance is a bit lacking compared to the others)