Which 14" or less windows laptop to buy?

My girlfriend is thinking of buying a windows based PC. She works as a researcher and a lot of the imaging softwares etc. she uses are windows only. So, a mac is out of question. Her needs would be a laptop under $700, good portability, good battery backup and good speakers (she watches a lot of movies, so even an optical drive). She essentially wants one to do basic coding wherever she wants (lab, home, garden etc.) and be able to watch movies too. We looked at many laptops, but couldn't make up our mind. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.