Looking for a laptop for University and Gaming

That will work, but I can tell you from personal experience that a 17" laptop is pretty big and heavy, and is a hassle to bring to class or to a friend's house. The unfortunate thing is that a big desktop replacement laptop like what you are looking at is a compromise between a desktop and a standard 14" laptop. It can game, but not quite as good as a desktop. It can travel, but it's big, heavy, and doesn't have great battery life.

How often do you go home? How long are you there for when you do? In your shoes I would probably get a small, cheap, 14" laptop with integrated graphics that I can't game on but is perfect for school and travels easily. Meanwhile all my gaming would only be on the desktop. And when you go home, well, no games for you.

But if you are at home a lot for long periods that may not be an option. If so, the specs of the laptop are very nice and the price isn't too bad and it should be a decent little gamer.

I would highly recommend not to get a gaming laptop for university. I would recommend bringing your current computer to your dorm, or wherever you are staying, and keep that there. Then, I would recommend that you get a chromebook for classes. Chromebooks will do anything you would ever need for school. Unless you are trying to 3d model or use CAD programs. Then, you can use the money you saved to upgrade to a better graphics card or processor. Hope this helped!

Did a few comparisons and for the money the one you picked is pretty spot on.
But a few things to consider:

1. Everything JBSquared and timeconsumer have stated is true. .battery life, weight are major issues when you really have to lug these things around a lot.

2. If you are committed to this path then. .it needs more Ram. I've been going back and checking 2015-2016 games Ram usage at 1080p & 4k and some(ROTTR & DOOM) are peaking at 10-12gb in 1080p at ultra settings they do taper off around 7-10 at lower settings. 16gb is becoming the minimum for games if you don't want pfile usage going crazy and costing you significant frames and wearing out your drive(s).

3. Again, if you're committed. . .I've gone through 2 'gaming' laptops while finishing college and ultimately you end up with something that will have a hard time with cutting edge games in 3-4 years. That is unless you get family to pitch in for another kind of monster in the $3-4000 and still stuck with something that can't be upgraded much . For this reason, definitely stick to your budget. It gets depressing know that money is a dead end.

External GPU dock options are increasing in availability. You may want to consider planning on a system that is smaller(15.6"-1050gpu/cheaper and can support one(thunderbolt). Then down the road spend a little more for the dock and other gpu for when gaming at the dorm. Plus while the market plays out you can really look at your needs and options from the new perspective of laptop gaming.

Firstly, that's completely WRONG, YOU DON'T NEED 16GB OF RAM IN ORDER TO HAVE THE BEST PERFOMANCE

A lot of people have tested how much RAM is required for modern games and they have come to the same conclusion. 8GB is still good enough for almost any game and even 4GB will manage to run but you will observe many slowdowns. Beyond that the gain is only from 1 to 3 FPS in the worst scenario.

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKIavpEQQGg

https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytl2IUHU6pI

And even so, an 8GB stick costs around $30 so there's absolutely nothing to worry about

Secondly, external GPUs are simply a waste of time and money, It is neither cheaper nor portable the options are still pretty reduced and getting a laptop capable of using that for a reasonable price is not worth it yet.

Not precisely heavy due to it's a very thin laptop perhaps a bit bulky

It weighs more than twice as much as my 14" laptop I bring home from the office everyday. If a student is also carrying a backpack with 2 or 3 big heavy textbooks an extra kilo or two can be a big deal when you're carrying it around all day.

Sure I can throw links too.

ROTTR -System ram usage
https/steamcommunity.com/app/391220/discussions/0/451852118779670120/
DOOM 2016-Recomended Specs Notice the MINIMUM is 8gb
http/www.notebookcheck.net/Doom-2016-Notebook-and-Desktop-Benchmarks.166173.0.html

I've personally tested these on two different 1080p systems at Ultra and seen the numbers from Afterburner
One desktop with 16gb and 970sli and a MSI GT80 980m SLI. Both Win10 64bit I7's.

These games are only two examples but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who bought them.

And yeah he wasn't stating to run ultra for everything, but was hoping for 3-4 years of compromised use. So in 3-4 years do you say "but in 2016 8gb or less was good enough" or try to plan for the future? Dev's aren't known for getting smaller and going backwards on AAA games.

GPU docks, yes they're ridiculously priced right now, hence why I recommended a capable laptop and not the full commitment. Let the market play out. Laptops as is are a dead end. GPU dock isn't meant to be portable, its the laptop. You take the laptop and come back to the dock and once again there's no commitment in getting a laptop that has the ability.

It's pretty obvious that it's not an ultrabook so don't compare it to a 14 inch laptop

either way, the lighter, the more expensive

My arguement still remains, he can get another 8GB stick anytime, when needed

and regarding GPU ducks, the reason why they exist is because you want a desktop grade GPU working on a laptop, with the release of pascal graphics cards I simply doesn't make any sense because the GPU along with the dock cost the same as a laptop with the GPU inside and you'll have almost no benefits a desktop CPU limits your external card that is supposed to be high end