Laptop spec: thoughts/comments appreciated

[elev8]

Hi Guys,

Looking to replace ageing laptop which has finally fallen to bits.
I know a bit about PC internals but mostly out of date knowledge.
Just curious if there are any schoolboy errors in this spec. Hoping for a fairly balanced/performant machine with some future proofage.
Also would like to understand what/where the limiting factors are likely to be.

One thing I find particularly interesting... Experience over the years has taught me to avoid WD drives like the plague.
I'm pretty much a Seagate man. Seems to me there are a LOT of different drives which could be offered... Why so few options?

Also, I'm slightly concerned about temps/cooling. The last thing I want is this thing to be throttling the whole time cos of temps. Most of the time it'd be used on my lap on the sofa. Is that gonna allow the vents to work properly?

Lastly, soz for the obvious question, but is the Blu-Ray writer able to burn DVD/CD too?

Budget was originally £1500 but, meh, you know how it is picking out hardware so I've gone over a bit lol.

Still seems to wazz all over anything you could buy off the shelf for similar money, would that be fair to say?

Incidentally, 17" is too big. 15-16 is the one firm requirement I have. The rest of it is pretty much just the chase for fast

Anyway... here's me spec Thoughts/views/opinions good & bad all welcomed
Cheers

Chassis & Display: Octane Series: 15.6" Glossy 4K PLS LED Widescreen (3840x2160) (£119)
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790S (3.2GHz) 8MB Cache
Memory (RAM): 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970M - 6.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Hard Disk: 1TB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD10JPVX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
mSATA/M.2 SSD Drive: 240GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 520MB/W)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 6x Samsung Slim USB 2.0 External Blu-Ray Writer (£62) <----------------- no USB 3.0 option?
Memory Card Reader: Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
Thermal Paste: ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card: Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless: GIGABIT LAN & KILLER™ 1525 WIRELESS GAMING 802.11N + BLUETOOTH 4.0
USB Options: 4 x USB 3.0 PORTS (1 x POWERED) + 1 e-SATA/USB 3.0 PORT COMBINED
Battery: Octane Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (82WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor: 1 x UK Power Lead & 230W AC Adaptor
Keyboard Language: OCTANE SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Notebook Mouse: INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam: INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM

Price: £1,898.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[keynes]

What is the intended use?

 

[leftfield20]

I'd probably drop the RAM down and get the 980 instead
Also I'd get Windows somewhere else as it's cheaper!

 

[elev8]

hmm...
As I understand it, the gains from upgrading to the 980 would not be massive. I figured not massive enough to justify the difference in cost anyway.
Even reducing the memory spec to 16Gb the net cost of your idea would be more.
I'm not a hardcore gamer by any stretch, but I do dabble a bit here and there.
As for RAM, I've found the more you throw at Windows, generally the happier it is. I have an 8Gb machine already so 16 is the minimum requirement really. I'm just not sure I will ever need/use the extra power of the 980.

As for intended use, I guess "general workhorse" would probably best describe it.
I play around editing audio & video a bit, and multitask a fair bit of stuff.
I like a hi-res screen. 3840 x 2160 is possibly overkill, but I figured for the extra cost it's probably worth it to have the option.
Regarding Win 7. I'm not sure how much cheaper it is elsewhere, but unless it's a drastic difference I'd rather just get it supplied along with the machine I think.

 

[keynes]

As I understand it, the gains from upgrading to the 980 would not be massive. I figured not massive enough to justify the difference in cost anyway.

Considering you got a 4k screen I would push for a better gpu than the gtx 970m.

As for RAM, I've found the more you throw at Windows, generally the happier it is. I have an 8Gb machine already so 16 is the minimum requirement really. I'm just not sure I will ever need/use the extra power of the 980.

If you are doing heavy editing or for a living 32gb ram would be helpful but if it is occasional or not too demanding 16gb should be fine.