And never found the 6700 it. NONE are future proof as you find the 970 and 980 can't deliver 4K gaming.
I'd dismiss the non-970m GPUs (all the others had less) and 6GB looks excessive today.
Sager in Canada could not get spare parts for me years ago so I'd toss out that name.
That left me with the MSI with the 970m. Let's hope for more than 1 year warranty.
I am looking to replace my 5 year old laptop, which has a low-end dedicated graphics card (AMD Mobility Radeon 5470HD w/512MB memory) and 8GB of RAM. It is still fine for everyday tasks, but lags when gaming or editing large images.
I use my laptop for RAW image editing, Photoshop, Corel Painter, and some gaming, as well as everyday tasks. I would like to be able to play a few of the newer RPGs or civilization-building games on high graphics settings. I currently play Sims 3 (which I only get 25-30 or so FPS) and some older titles. I haven't bothered trying many new games because they wouldn't run well anyway.
I want a slim laptop not weighing much more than 5 pounds, with full HD display. I have been looking at NVIDIA GTX 960-980M graphics cards, but maybe this is overkill?
I really didn't want to spend too much over $1500, but I can swing a few hundred more if necessary. I know I am probably overbuying for current tasks, but there is also some degree of future-proofing to consider. I'd like to still be using this new laptop in 4-5 years without feeling like I'm using an ancient machine. What do you think?
Here are a few builds I have been considering:
HP Omen - $1869.99
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB
RAM: 8GB
Display: 15.6 inch WLED Full HD IPS Touch
Storage: 512GB PCIe Flash SSD
Optical Drive: none
(I love the touchscreen and the design, but given the other specs and price it might not be a good trade-off.)
Sager NP8657 - $1544
CPU: 6th gen Core i7 6700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 2133 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 3Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost - $1617
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
MSI GS60 Ghost Pro - $1718
CPU: 4th gen Core i7 4710HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB 6Gb/s SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: none
Gigabyte P35W v3 - $1674
CPU: 5th gen Core i7 5700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 6GB
RAM: 16B DDR4 1600 MHz
Display: 15.6 inch LED Full HD anti-glare
Storage: 256GB SSD, and 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD
Optical Drive: Slim swappable blu-ray burner
The Gigabyte is probably my favorite right now, due to balance of specs and price, but I would really appreciate any advice or insight you can provide to help me. Thank you!

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