HP Probook G7 is from $1150 in the PBTech labour weekend sale, my wife has the 13" and it's very good. I have the 13" Elitebook, it's about the same as the probook though without as many ports. There's plenty of models to choose from. There's also others - off-lease ones, Chromebooks, etc. Depends what you need.

It's your lucky day, my friend.  I have a new Chromebook that I'll sell you for only $1050, and it has an AMAZING battery life.  I'll personally deliver it free to your home or workplace, anywhere in the country.

If this does not sound like quite what you had in mind....  would you consider being a little more specific about what you are looking for?

Have you searched for similar threads here on GZ? It's always a good starting point, given this is a common question (though, as mentioned above, it is helpful to provide a bit more detail of what you're looking for!).

Here's a recent thread I started a few weeks back - while I was primarily looking for a 2-in-1 touch-screen model, there are a number of recommendations there for 'normal' laptops, many of them at or around your price point.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=37&topicId=275838

One of the laptops discussed in some detail on that thread is the Huawei D15, which happens to be on sale this weekend (also at PB Tech), down from $1,100 to $968. 

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NBKHUA530101/Huawei-Matebook-D15-UltraSlim-Laptop-156--FHD-AMD

SpartanVXL: I would recommend getting a model with the Ryzen 4xxx series mobile chips in them. They’ve got good reviews on performance and energy usage if you get the right settings.

... and this is exactly the reason I'm holding off buying my son's laptop (he doesn't need it until school starts next year), as there's still a decent price premium to pay for laptops with this vs a 3xxx processor; I'm hoping they'll start to come down over the next couple of months and/or the various sales between now and then offer a good discount.

(OP - here's a comparison between the Ryzen 3 3300U vs the 3 4300U as an example.)

Hi, well below your budget but with amazing battery life, I recently replaced my old 14" Lenovo laptop that ran Mint and I accidentally flooded it with a cub of water, with a Lenovo 14E chromebook, this has a FHD display, and will run for 10hrs easily on a single charge.

As a network engineer I was cautious at first to go with ChromeOS, but to my delight adding the Chrome SSH extention, Beagle Term (for USB console) and a RDP/VNC extension its worked out a great tool. Further with Android apps to fill the Wireless testing side of things and then a single click to bring up a debian container I am so happy, and only had to spend $460 plus a USB ethernet and HDMI extender.

Clearly your use case may well differ but I would definitely consider a Chromebook expecially if battery life is important.

Cyril

Save the environment and save some money

https://shop.remarkit.co.nz/collections/laptops/products/lenovo-thinkpad-x280-12-ultraportable-8gb-memory-unused?variant=36708118954138

Can't be more specific as you haven't given any details of what you need.