Dell Latitude and Lenovo thinkpad (and some other ones as well) have great build quality ime
Latitude has a premium build, but gives you very little bang for your buck. The configurations are also very weak.
Thinkpad T series is also premium, but for any decent processor config it is out of my $1k price range.
Ultimately, I settled on this:
HP Spectre 13t-3000
It's a premium build ultraportable laptop, with the max configuration available:
-i7-4500 (built in Intel graphics)
-8gb Ram
-A/C wifi
-FHD screen
The price was $1434 pre-tax. -$250 coupon = $1,290 after NY tax.
-Amex Open 10% back: -$129
-Cashback site referral that I won't name here: -$64
-Possible Amex $75 back (long story): -$75
-Possible tax back (even longer story, def can't talk about it here) -$105
(if tax back works out, it may shave a bit off the open discount)
Total if all discounts work out:
$917 Although I wanted a 15" screen, I settled on this 13" as I can't find any 15" premium configuration that would give me this much bang for my buck.
This has been released very recently so there are not many reviews, but the few that are there are very positive.