I'm buying a gaming laptop, and I need your advice.

I don't know much about wireless cards or processors, but generally the more RAM the better.
Also, since it is a laptop, try to invest in the best way to cool it as you are able. "Gaming" laptops tend to overheat a lot.

What is your budget? You will want the most ram and GPU you can afford. Go with something that can easily upgraded later, such as a sager or eurocom. And the thermal paste is a necessity.

First: i honestly wouldn't even recommend relying on wireless over wire. It's just too easy to interfere with. If you're having a hard time choosing, go with the stronger option. It's always easier using less than optimal resources, but it's hard to change the card later on.

Second: The i7 is clearly better than the i5. And while an i5 is plenty to run almost anything currently available, if you're going to get a machine that actually will last you, you might as well go for an i7. 4710MQ or 4810MQ is a minor difference, and shouldn't really matter much for anything but benchmarks. Regardless, going for an i7 wouldn't be what topples the budget here.

Third: 16GB if possible. with 4GB you're going to have issues running much more than your OS, and while 8GB is enough to run properly, it might start to be a little too little within the coming years. If you're building to last, 16GB might actually be more important than getting an i7 over an i5 core.

Fourth: With Nvidia cards, what you need to know is that the FIRST of the three digits >9<70M, is the VERSION number, and the LAST TWO digits is the MODEL number. Thus, a 780 will be vastly superior to a 920, as the 80 model is near their top-shelf while 20 is low-end throw-away. With your listed models, this becomes somewhat irrelevant though, but still important in case you're looking at other models as well. What i'd recommend is getting the one you feel you can afford. a 980 probably isn't worth doubling the price of a 970, if that's the case, but a 980 WILL perform better, by a fair margin. However, all three cards are pretty much able to play whatever you can get your hands on at max graphics, unless you're trying to pick something like chrysis 2.

Fifth: If there's no cooling paste in the machine from the get-go, you've been ripped off. I'm going to assume they're applying it in different locations to enhance cooling further, and as laptops number 1 enemy IS overheating, i'd say it's worth 25$ if it helps even in the slightest.

Finally: Sorry, it's late night here and i didn't read through your builds. One thing that have NOT been addressed here yet, which is incredibly important, is that you make SURE that your RAM have a bus-speed of 1600. It basically designates how fast the ram can communicate with the motherboard, and easily becomes a bottleneck if you settle for the lower values like 1200, 899 and so on.

The 780 isn't vastly superior to the 920. Well, performance wise it might be, but as far as heat build up and battery life the 920 is a better option.

This videos could be useful for you:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and 970M
ASUS G751 Review

The video from Linus are pretty good in general btw. :)

i7, 8g ram, 980 or 970 graphics, with paste (the more cooling the better, especially in gaming).

there are also some stands with fans to put under the laptop which could help keep it cool.

if you are on the grid, take the battery out for gaming. lithium batterys degrade the faster the hotter they are.

Don't forget that it will probably be using Optimus which can be annoying when maxing out your performance. (Just an FYI)

For units like this it's often just a Clevo custom build re-badged to the 3rd party vendor's branding. In these cases I prefer to go Sager over most other rebrandings, but that's a personal preference.

The Sager NP7378 ( http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP7378 ) offers (Xidax specs in parenthesis next to each item):

• Intel i7 4710MQ (same)
• 17.3" 1080p Matte display (15.6" 1080p)
• 1x8GB 1600MHz RAM (2x2GB 1333MHz RAM)
• NVIDIA GeForce 860M 2GB (same)
• 1TB 7200RPM HDD [as a free upgrade selection] (WD Black 750GB 7200RPM HDD)

This is for $1099 (+tax/S&H, if applicable). Seems like a far superior solution vs. the Xidax build considering the cost and spec differences. The Xidax XM-5 looks eerily similar to the Sager NP7358, but the NP7358 even has 8GB of RAM and the 1TB 7200RPM free upgrade at a total cost of $1079.

EDIT: Sager's also offering the Intel 7260 AC dual band wireless card as a free upgrade on both models I listed above. Really seems like a no-brainer now.

FINAL EDIT: Your second build won't even work as expected. The video card should need some kind of shadow caching/texture caching in RAM as well, so a 6GB of memory on the video card with 4GB RAM before the OS is a terrible choice.

laptops are a waste. if your out and about, observe the world, not stare at some screen.

MSI GT72 DOMINATOR PRO for the win!!

Bump for edit

I'm also in the starting blocks for a GeForce GTX 970M / GTX 980M machine.

I had favored the ASUS ROG Series, but recently this Awesome Baby, the Aorus X7 Pro has been entering the competition...