Just purchased M17x r3 from dell outlet, did I do okay?

Hi everyone, I want to know if I did okay on this purchase because I'm in a huge hurry to leave in February to move to Hong Kong so I need to replace my m17x r2 to r3 for its HDMI-input (xbox 360/ps3) and also for better portability and battery life. My r2 currently barely last an hour, but the r3 should last 3-4 hours right? Anyways here's the R2 sale and R3 purchase

R2 sold for $1380 on ebay, about $1300 after fees
i7 920xm
1200p RGB LED
4gb ram
5870m in crossfire
500GB

R3 bought for $1560, ~$1650 after tax from dell outlet, I wasn't able to find any working discount, if anyone can refer to one I will call Dell tmr and try to get some money back.
i7 2720qm (2.2ghz turbo to 3.3ghz)
4GB ddr3 1333mhz
320GB (5400 rpm, really really bad I noticed this after but I can throw in a SSD later)
2GB gtx 580m
17.3 1920 x 1080 120hz WLED
Win 7 Home 64bit

I mainly got this because of the 580m and 120hz monitor. (Does it mean I can play 3D games since it's the 120hz panel?)

Any comments or reference to discount code will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

Yeah, the outlet used to specifically say "3D" on them, but they don't anymore. AFAIK the 1080p with 120Hz is the 3D screen. I don't think they ship with the glasses anymore though. In fact that may have been why they changed the wording on the outlet.

 

You can always call and suggest that the laptop doesn't meet your needs and they will offer $50-$100 for you to keep it. That should get you some coin back.

 

^^ this, I got 125 back

 

The 3D screen kills Optimus, apparently for 3D they have to wire the screen directly to the GPU and thus you can never use the internal GPU. This means you WILL NOT get good battery life with that machine (probably the same 1-2 hours you get now!)

You need to get one WITHOUT the 120 hz screen to get Optimus. A non-3D M17x R3 will get 5+ hours of things like browsing and word processing and such.

Also, unless you have major budget constraint, I would try to get one with the newer generation of processor (so like 2670, 2760, 2860) since they will perform better and give noticeably better battery life.

A few tips for the outlet:
It updates at 40 minutes after every hour, get there at 39 minutes and refresh over the 40 to get the best machines. Don't check specs, just add anything that a glance suggests you might want to your cart, you then have 15 minutes to decide. Be patient, there are AMAZING deals on the outlet, wait for the computer that fits you, it will show up.