considering m17x, current m15x owner

I'm toying with this idea of this:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 2760QM 2.4GHz (3.5GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
VIDEO CARD 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M
HARD DRIVE 500GB Hybrid Solid State Drive
LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
WIRELESS CARD Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)


I currently use this:
m15x,740qm,8gb,460m,win7 pro, DVD, 1080 screen,500gb standard HDD

Dell site wants around 2500 for the m17x as above.

My logic is this thus far:
upgrades to m15x options:
920xm upgrade approx 250$
6770m or 6990m upgrade approx 400-500$
240watt pwr supply-80+$

around 800ish$ to upgrade. Warranty expires 1/2012 on existing box (used once to replace 460m, a card I dont like due to some OPENGL stuff, I want to go ATI as a premise.

my concept is buying the new machine may be a better overall value with a fresh box, fresh waranty, faster stuff, no tweaking to install hardware, the option of selling my m15x to recover some of the investment, or keeping them as twins and replacing my old desktop which I gave to my GF (qx6700) 250GTX,4gb ddr2/800 as a new machine for her.

I guess my question revolves around if this makes sense from a performance standpoint vs upgrading the m15x. I should add I mostly use an external display and we both use our machines for mesh modeling, sculpting, 3-d environments, photoshop, as well as typical general use, we tend to like rendering capacity in hardware.

Besides loosing my 460m at one point, the m15x has been good, but it's a little weak for me graphics wise.

Whats my m15x worth about, like $800 if im lucky?

 

you'd almost be best off parting out your M15 and putting that toward the M17. this assumes you already have buyers for everything.

 

Well with the M15x upgrading is always an option. But it is always nice to receive a brand new machine, im also looking into a future purchase (hoping the new ati cards come out soon) myself, but i wanna keep my M15x. As far as resell value for the M15x isn't doing to well, $800 is about the max you would get, you might do better selling it locally. And parting out is good only if there is a demand, which right now here at the marketplace there isn't any demand. I upgraded my M15x and im very happy with the results it has given me, but i still want a new one..... I'll probably get an aurora desktop, not sure yet.

 

I'm going to wait and put a 920xm in my 15x for now. perhaps when an ivy bridge m18x is out (I simply prefer the alum chassis), I'll reconsider this time next year or next black friday.

thanks for the input.