Laptop advice or sanity?

[jpinks]

Ok here is my problem. I want a laptop that will be good for 3 to 4 years(when my next kid is ready to get it lol). I am concerned mostly with build quality and performance. I will be gaming on it when traveling and doing video editing too. Please tell me if I am crazy to consider the CF7970's and if the processor is really worth the upgrade. I could do 680SLI but I just am having a hard time justifing the cost difference for what seems minimal performance difference.

17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display Matte type (1920 x 1080)

NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 680M 4GB GDDR5 or CF 7970? Would like thoughts or opinions here as it seems as there was lots of trouble early on some say it was hardware and other say it was drivers?? Whose right?

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3840QM Not sure I need this much processor but I know long run cant go wrong with more there, but price premium for this is it really worth it?

Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition or Win 7?? I have Win 7 on my desktop and its been solid. Win 8 I have read different things says its slower in games then that its faster in games. I am not wild about the Metro UI either.

16GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM 1600 probably overkill and will go back to 12, but ram is so cheap right now...

120GB Intel® 520 Series SSD for C Drive any better suggestions?

750GB 7200rpm SATA Data Drive I dont think a hybrid drive will help here will it?

Ultimate-N 6300 Wow they push Bigfoot alot now adays but I just dont see it am I wrong.

 

[jpinks]

anyone have any thoughts or advice?

 

[AlexAL]

That is a heavy laptop for travel and in 3 years there will be new technologies that you just will not be able to upgrade to. And that's not just the video card. Buy a $1-1.5k laptop now and another for the same amount when your boy's ready for it.

 

[crab0]

^much better to buy a second laptop then to try and max out one with today's technology at an insane price.

 

[VirtualLarry]

^much better to buy a second laptop then to try and max out one with today's technology at an insane price.

This. Overkill now, is NOT the same as future-proofing. Often the best way to future-proof, is to just simply save money for newer technology. (As seen in someone's sig.)

 

[OlafSicky]

buy a cheaper one buy another one later.

 

[jpinks]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I have to admit your arguments make sense.

 

[Torn Mind]

Sounds like you're considering a Sager on xoiticpc or similar site. http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np9370-gaming-laptop-clevo-p370em-p-4896.html?wconfigure=yes

Beating a dead horse, but w/e.
Haswell and Broadwell will make the laptop CPU way obsolete in three years. So, the CPU upgrade is completely excessive. The premium for the slightly faster CPU is around 300-400 bucks(355 on the build I'm looking at), and that is a whole budget laptop in itself.

 

[backccopy]

yeah,better to buy a second laptop then to try and max out one with today's technology at an insane price.