Suggestions for an ultrabook

[Dagstar]

I'm in the market for a new laptop, most likely an ultrabook. It'll be used for school so portability and battery life are my main concerns as well as quality of materials. I don't want to feel like I'm holding a plastic toy like my 7 year old Acer laptop. Seems like there's a ton of options out there, I'm looking for some help to narrow the field.

Looking for:
~$1000 price tag max
13.3" screen, 1080p or higher res
light and thin, ~3lbs. and ~.5" thick, typical ultrabook
battery life of roughly 6 hours+ with light use
i5+ CPU/8GB RAM
backlit keys - a few I've come across didn't have them
touch screen - not mandatory but I won't be carrying around a mouse and I've never been crazy about touch pads, so preferred

Thanks in advance.

 

[SchizTech]

The Dell XPS 13 gets great reviews everywhere. It's as small as you can get with a 13" screen. It's listed here with 4GB RAM though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6R42J02023

IF the RAM is a problem, try

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232368

 

[SchizTech]

Also, that Dell model is not a touchscreen. An XPS 13 with touch and higher RAM is there, but over $1k

 

[Dagstar]

Old thread, but I ended up going with a Dell XPS 13 (2015 model): i5/8GB RAM/ 256GB SSD/QHD+ touchscreen. A little more than I wanted to spend but that's alright. I use the touchscreen a lot more than I imagined I would and it looks gorgeous. I get about 8 hours of battery life with regular usage, which is plenty for me.