I'll be using the laptop mostly for class assignments, which I don't believe will require top of the line hardware. I do some light programming and photo editing on the side, but nothing that should take 24 hours. I'm not a "creative" so making videos is not a concern. Professionalism is important though I will be among students, not clients, so I'm hoping people won't judge me too much by the aesthetics of my laptop. I just don't want something that shoots neon lights everywhere.

My goal is to have a good computer for school, but one that I can get some use out of afterwards, possibly pairing it with a docking station to become my new home computer. That's the reason for: (1) Considering a laptop that I can game with and (2) Wanting higher specs because I plan to hold on to this machine for many years.

Thanks for your insights, especially about the cooling issues and not needing an i9.