Here's what I'm contemplating right now...
1)
https://www.newegg.com/abyssal-black-acer-predator-helios-300-ph315-55-79kt-gaming/p/N82E16834360322?Item=N82E16834360322
Has basically everything you could want in a gaming laptop, no extra work required. $1030
2)
https://www.newegg.com/storm-grey-lenovo-loq-15irh8-82xv00lfus-gaming/p/1TS-000E-18JS3
Only $720. Can buy 64 GB RAM (2 x32) for just $130 per a sale on Amazon, and a 1 TB SSD for like $60 to add to the native 512 GB for 1.5 TB storage, and you've got a pretty souped up gaming laptop for like $900. Only downside is the graphics card is "only" RTX 4050. I've seen some say the 4060 or 3060/3070 are way better than it; others say the differences are marginal. I don't know...
EDIT: The RAM I meant: https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2x32GB-4800MHz-Laptop-CT2K32G48C40S5/dp/B09S2QLBWC/
3) less useful to you, but...
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-tuf-gaming-a16-16-165hz-gaming-laptop-fhd-amd-ryzen-7-7735hs-with-16gb-ddr5-memory-radeon-rx7600s-512gb-pcie-ssd-off-black/6535499.p?skuId=6535499
I already bought this on Friday for $750 while it was on sale, and got a 2 TB SSD drive for $100 to go w/ it. But apparently it has a shit load of shutdown / sleep / hibernate / etc... issues that either are unique to Asus or just a result of using a newer AMD graphics card w/ "smart" features that the bugs haven't been worked out yet.
Strongly debating if I should buy one of the above 2 and cancel this order...