I was in the same situation and went looking for an XC biased 9’er.
Plumped for a discounted 2014 GT Zaskar comp that was pretty heavily reduced in the end of season sales @ Winstaleys.
They had quite a few 29ers in stock and take Cyclescheme vouchers on their sale stock (+10%) so the grand goes a bit further.
Love the GT, its fairly racey, however it was intended as a commuter / weekend XC race bike so its to be expected really.
MBR did a hardtail group test which is on youtube / their site which recommended a few.
I like the look of the on-one, but didn’t want to spend the full 1k in the end.
BJ