buying a camera, big dilemma!

the nikon camera is cheaper for one thing but it also has better dynamic range than the canon as well as in camera HDR for a massive dynamic range. it also has autofocus in the video mode which might be useful to you and i also know it has some good effects in video mode. It has a good manual video mode too. And it can shoot RAW and jpeg simultaneously . it is pretty future proof and nikon have some pretty good lenses on offer, however their 18-55mm kit lense is not the best and probably wont satisfy you for very long...

No matter what people tell you, it all comes down to your own particular taste. 

Based on what you have stated, I think the sx-50HS is exactly what you are looking for.

I have owned the sx20, sx30, and sx40, and I either sold or returned them all, for one glaring reason... I was using them more than my DSLR.

I actually enjoyed messing around with the filters in the camera on all the models, the sx40 had HIGHSPEED video, which though low resolution, produced very accurate and well done videos.

I liked the overall speed of the SX cameras, though having gorilla hands made accessing the controls a little tough, (the average human should have no issues) I found most of the actions to work as good as the T3i that I had bought 3 days earlier.  The zoom on the sx40 was magnificent, and when used for video, was fairly quiet, though i recommend an external mic.

--If you plan on editing your photos a lot, plan on buying an SLR, mainly due to pixel size... but if you are only doing minor editing, this should suffice the next 5 years, though you will likely move on to DSLR if you find yourself making money.

Cost will come down beacuse they just released d5200.

It has good ISO perfomance form the  Above

Your 5 criteria + money .... everything is best suited for D5100.

Nikon D5100 is a brilliant choice for your requirements. It has excellent image quality, great value for your money and a good variety of lenses. For macro shots, you should buy a good macro lens, though. I would not even consider the Canon 600D.

Without the articulated LCD requirement, I would recommend Pentax K-30 or Pentax K-5, which have great price-to-quality ratio. In the fixed lens category, Sony's RX100 and Canon G1X are good choices, but the RX100 has a fixed lcd and G1X is a bad macro shooter.

Very much not an expert here (I'm actually considering buying my first DSLR as well) but wanted to thow out the Canon T3. It's a step down from the 600d/T3i, but cheaper if price is a factor,

i recommend the sony because the sensor is much better