Want to get new laptop for computer science/programming tasks as well as decent gaming performance

For context, I currently have a Lenovo Ideapad 5, Core i5/500GB SSD/8GB RAM, etc.

Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US:

I want to spend up to $1000, but absolutely no more than maybe $1500 if you think your suggestion will be significantly better

Are you open to refurbs/used?

No

How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life?

I would like to have a laptop that isn't made of cheap material/plastic (i.e. a sturdy chassis) with very good performance. Battery life is important but not the main priority

How important is weight and thinness to you?

I don't want it to be too thick and bulky, still somewhat easy to carry around

Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.

As long as it can fit into a backpack and I don't have to squint really hard to see the screen

Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.

I will be doing a lot of programming, which will include machine learning/AI models. I might use it for video editing, but nothing too insane. I will definitely use it for gaming, mainly steam games and possibly console emulators; So far the heaviest game I've ran is REPO and PVZ Garden Warfare 2 and sometimes my current laptop has problems with lag and such.

If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?

Again, it's mainly steam games, I tend to play a lot of bloons tower defense as yugioh masterduel, which run fine on my computer, struggle to run other games like REPO, PVZ GW2, and emulators (ex: 3DS emulator). No real specific preference on settings and FPS, just something that wont kill my computer when I want to run heavier PC games at normal/higher quality settings

Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?

I would like a backlit keyboard and a front facing camera if possible; I do end up being pretty active at night. Touch screen and finger print reader is a nice addition but not necessary.
Now for specs, I would like the following:
At least 16 gigs of RAM
At least 1 TB of SSD memory
At least Core i7 processor or equivalent
Not an expert on graphics cards, but I would like it to better than what I have now

Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

I would prefer to not use a MAC, not because I don't think they're good, but mainly because I am more used to windows devices.