You must be getting sick of these threads, right?

Anyway, my old Acer Aspire 5520G is going to die soon. Infamous Nvidia 8000-series issues causing driver crashes, complete freezes and automated shutdowns. Lately it's really getting on my nerves, to be honest.


So what do I need? - Some advice and perhaps personal experience.

At work we use some pretty crappy laptops, which are too slow for my taste when working. I'm mainly using CAD applications (both 2d and 3d) which just have a bad habit of not running nicely on a 1.8Ghz dual core and 2GB of 667Mhz RAM. To somewhat remedy this, I'm planning on getting a new laptop that will serve as both a second computer at work, and as my personal/portable multimedia system to bring along to friends/lans or on holiday.

Long story short, I had a chat with my boss and if I purchase the laptop myself (through the company) I can deduct the VAT and get all the required software from them, including a windows installation.

Since I do have to pay for it myself, I am on a budget. This budget is between €1000 and €1200. What I want for this kind of money is a laptop which will run my work related programs faster (yeah, just about any new laptop will do that) and can run some games as well when I do not have access to my home PC. The budget includes any aftermarket items I might need to buy as well, such as an SSD and/or caddy to replace the DVD writer with. This means I can spend up to around €1425 including VAT. Excluding VAT this is almost €1200.



Suggested/preferred specs:
- 15" or 17" - where 17" is preferred
- 1080p resolution
- i7 3610QM
- Nvidia GT650m (GDDR5 variant) or better
- Two harddrive slots (could be arranged with a caddy instead of the DVD writer).
- Proper build quality.
- Battery life isn't a deal-breaker. It will be plugged in most of the time.

Notes:
- The machine does not have to come with an SSD. As long as there is room to fit an aftermarket one next to the storage disk all is well.
- RAM in the laptop does not matter either. If it's 4GB or less it can be replaced by aftermarket specimens as well.


What I've seen so far this limits my choices to the following three models:
1. Asus N76 (17") - €1298 including VAT - €1090 excluding VAT
2. Dell Inspiron 17R SE (17") - €1159 including VAT - €975 excluding VAT
3. Lenovo IdeaPad Y580 (15") - €1204 including VAT - €1012 excluding VAT
For an explanation of the costs and specs, see below:


Now the Asus N76 has just so many variations with either a GT630m, GT650m with GDDR3 or a GT650m with GDDR5 that it's hard to just point out one specific model. The only model so far I've found with a GDDR5 version is costing €1199 including VAT (19%).

Specs:
- 1080p resolution 17"
- i7 3610QM
- GT650m 2GB GDDR5
- 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
- 2x 1TB 5400RPM Harddisks in RAID 0
- DVD writer

I'd be removing one of those two 1TB drives and replace it with a 128 (or 256GB) SSD. Seems kind of a waste to pay for it.

Total:
€1199 for the laptop
€99 for a Samsung 830 128GB SSD
€1298 including VAT - €1090 excluding VAT


The Inspiron line has a nice model for €1099 including VAT.

Specs:
- 1080p resolution 17"
- i7 3610QM
- GT650m 2GB GDDR5
- 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
- 750 GB 7200RPM Harddisk
- DVD writer

It has the possibility of adding a SSD, but it will require a caddy.

With some tips, tricks and discounts, I might be able to get the price down to about €1060 including VAT AND a caddy.
It is possible to have an mSATA SSD in the Inspiron 17R SE. However it seems that Dell does not install the mSATA connector if you do not opt for their 32GB mSATA SSD option. To pick this option you are automatically required to also take the BluRay ODD, making the laptop cost a whopping €200 more (€1299).

Total:
€1060 for the laptop
€99 for a Samsung 830 128GB SSD
€1159 including VAT - €975 excluding VAT

The Lenovo Y580 can also be bought for €1099 including VAT.

Specs:
- 1080p resolution 15"
- i7 3610QM
- GT660m 2GB GDDR5
- 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM
- 1 TB 5400RPM Harddisk
- 64GB mSATA SSD
- DVD writer

Total:
€1099 for the laptop
€105 for a Crucial M4 128GB mSATA SSD
€1204 including VAT - €1012 excluding VAT

While the added 64GB mSATA SSD is nice, it does not offer enough space for my work installation (78GB including windows). I was also interested in installing one or two games on it, so it would have to be at least 128GB. Here it would also be a case of buying it, and immediately replacing it as with the Asus' second harddrive. It's also a 15" machine. After having used several 17" laptops, I do prefer those.

Yes, I am aware that some of the work related programs could be installed on the harddisk (like Office), but I am not looking forward to IT and ripping their image file to pieces.


My question: What is the best course of action? Do you think any of these three laptops are worth their money with these specs, or would you recommend something completely different? I know there's actual workstation laptops with quadro cards in them, but they are usually quite out of my price range, and would not do wonders for the 'private use' part of the deal. When only looking at just the price, the Inspiron looks best.

The main reason I did not post any BTO (build to order) laptops like Sager/Clevo is that the build quality is not quite the same, compared to the machines I posted in here. At least, that is my impression from reading reviews.


I'll be awaiting any input you could offer me.

Regards,
Nixy