Good places for custom built laptops?

if that's all you need for specs, just go buy off the shelf what closely matches (i7) swap out the HDD for an ssd yourself, just boot it, make sure it works, keep what you take out should you need to return it.

i think that's what lordoffire was saying

Do I need to worry about motherboard interface to take advantage of the SSD, and about opening up the laptop case? Some of those cases don't look like they are easy to open...

Satellite Laptop - 8GB Memory
240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $189.99 after mail-in rebate card

That Toshiba satellite doesn't have a 1080p screen.

I'd second that you're better off buying something inexpensive and stripping it.
For 1080p screens, the least expensive is Dell's XPS 15...you see them for about $800.

If you need more than 2 memory slots, you're pretty much stuck w/ $1500+ systems. I ended up w/ a Lenovo W530 for about $1500 ($1800 after I finish swapping out memory/SSD)...4 memory slots though and it'll run my 8GB VMs w/o problems...

Witold said:   Do I need to worry about motherboard interface to take advantage of the SSD, and about opening up the laptop case? Some of those cases don't look like they are easy to open...
Before you buy, look up the specific model online. Often you will something like a user guide, upgrade guide, or other manual that will contain instructions on how to swap out the hard drive and upgrade the RAM. This will give you a good idea of how easy or hard it is to upgrade that particular model. You will probably also find some information on which components are compatible: for instance, what is the speed of the RAM that you should buy. If you buy anything faster than what that laptop is designed to use, it will probably still work but at the slower speed, and so the extra money paid for it would be wasted. Similarly, although laptop hard drives have a standard width (2.5"), some laptops have limitations on the height of the hard drive that they support. This will probably not be a problem for SSDs, but the idea is to be well informed before you make a purchase so that you avoid unpleasant surprises.

I have done a hard drive upgrade on a laptop and several upgrades to my desktop. I generally like the idea of DIY. This way I can use the specific components that most appeal to me, whereas when adding upgrades from a manufacturer, despite overpaying heavily, you will probably get the cheapest components that the manufacturer can find. This may be significant for a SSD because there is often a trade off between speed and price for SSDs. Just be aware that this may affect your warranty. For a laptop that is past its warranty period, that is a non issue, but if you are going to buy a new one, it is worth considering that factor.