The Myth of the Perfect Laptop - Buying Advice

I've spent quite awhile looking around for a laptop that fits with my needs but what I've found has been disheartening to say the very least as it appears manufacturers are forcing us to take unnecessary concessions in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Like most, I have had brand preference to HP based on my previous 10 years of experience working with their laptops but I'm no longer loyal to them alone. I appeal to the fellow forum goers for advice.

Here's the dealio julio, I have a few absolute must haves and a few nice to haves:

Must haves:

Display: 1080p or higher, 14" non-reflective matte display.
CPU: Core i7, preferably 4th gen.
RAM: 16GB RAM (I run lots of VM's)
Keyboard: Standard US layout, those from Canada can attest to this as the majority of laptops purchased through retailers come standard with French bi-lingual keyboards which is a big no-no for a power user.
Great aesthetic appeal: I want to avoid embarrassment pulling this out in public, that rules out Alienware. I really like the look and feel of the older HP Envy's.

Nice to haves:

SSD: While this is nice it isn't necessary because I plan on installing my own OCZ Vector 512GB drive anyway.
Graphics: Nvidia or AMD
Trackpad: A great trackpad that is as close as can be in feel and functionality to that of the Apple Macbook.

Does such perfection in a laptop exist? I feel that my requirements are not unsound nor unreasonable.

 

That looks like a solid laptop. It's a real pity that other manufacturers don't cater to power users with system details like this one!

 

The upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad T440p could be another candidate for a powerful 14" notebook, it offers an Antiglare IPS FHD 1920x1080 screen, Optional Quad Core i7 processors, 16GB RAM, US international keyboards and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M GPU.