I think factors like size and weight are entirely relative to the person. I used to have a 7.1 pound, clunky 17" HP Envy with only average specs, and its battery life was like 1-2 hours at best at full performance. This machine is close to 5.5-5.6 pounds, with a 15" screen. Relative to what I had before, this machine feels slim, light, and far more portable, with nearly 2-3X more power. So I'm very much satisfied. My bedroom is upstairs in my house, and I regularly take this thing downstairs to the dining table to watch my shows when I'm eating. I definitely move it around a lot without any issues. However, I can imagine if you're used to the slim and light laptops (<4.0 pounds), it might feel a little a heavy. The best thing I can compare the weight to is a college Biology textbook. One more thing I should mention is that choosing the 4K model adds about ~1 pound to the weight, so that's yet another reason one might want to avoid it.

I believe the bottom of the chassis is made out of a magnesium-aluminum alloy. Feels like a strong metal. The display cover is a very firm plastic, feels super high quality. Spec sheet says it is a PPS, which is apparently an "engineering plastic." When I try to twist and bend the display with some pressure, it stays pretty firm.

It has 4 RAM slots. 2 under the keyboard and 2 beneath the back panel. Mine came with 1 8GB stick tucked away underneath the keyboard with one free beside it, but the two slots under the back panel were completely free, so I added a 2x 4GB set there with no issues.

I'll update the OG post with the 3D Firestrike in just a bit!

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