Gaming laptop recommendations under R 20k

[The_Assimilator]

I'm going to be emigrating and need a lappy to keep me occupied/from going crazy until I figure out the second-hand market over there. I'll probably be buying a 24" or 27" monitor on day one which I'll plug into the lappy, so display and portability isn't a major concern.

Based on my workflow (software development and gaming) I'm looking at a quad-core with 16GB memory, at least a 256GB SSD, and a decent gaming GPU. So far this puppy looks like the best bang-for-buck:

http://www.pcexpress.co.za/dell-ins...tb-15-6-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-4gb-win-10

All the other models I've looked at (mostly from Asus and MSI) seem to have slightly worse specs for the same price and, in particular, their display quality seems to be subpar. The Dell also apparently has nice easy access to the innards.

The downside with these "gaming" laptops is that they're a bit short on expandability. For example most are limited to 1x M.2 SSD + 1x 2.5" drive, where I'd prefer at least a pair of 2.5" bays. But it seems that if I want that, I'll have to look at "professional" machines, which are generally a lot pricier while also having crappy "workstation" graphics cards.

Suggestions welcome.

 

[hof27]

If your moving abroad won't it be cheaper to hold onto the cash and buy it that side? Friend of mine lives in Hong Kong and bought a proper setup with a 1070 and 16gb ram for 18k..
That included a window 10 pro and a 650w bronz semi modular psu..
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[AAAH NUUU BRU]

stuff

My mate bought a refurbished alienware 17' with a i7, 970, 256gb sdd, 1tb hdd in the states.

The lappy was refurbished by dell, looks absolutely brand new, he paid $700 odd (was R11000 at the time)

Apparently this is a fairly normal thing so i suggest finding something like that, ordering it and getting it when you land overseas

 

[SCHUMI4EVER]

I agree, buy there.

 

[bythecantloads]

Definitely better to wait and buy there. Was just shopping for a laptop for R15k it's near impossible to find something with an SSD never mind a decent GPU.

Unless you want to go Evetech...

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[The_Assimilator]

Just to clarify: the reason I want to buy the laptop here and now is so that I can transition all my activities from my current desktop to the lappie, so that when I arrive overseas I don't have to do any setup, copying of data etc.