Going to buy a ASUS G71GX-RX05 have a few questions

My buddy is selling his ASUS G71GX-RX05 for decent price to me, what i'm wondering is this though, i know other non best buy models support quad processors, now i can obtain a q9000 quad core and i was wondering would i have any issue if i installed it in the laptop(updating my bios to the latest before doing so offcourse)

Somebody stated that all G71GX had the same bios so theoretically it should work correct, also has anybody confirmed it does work, because i've read elsewhere that it doesn't post at all, if it does work what other variants would i be able to use q9100 etc...

next question i'm wondering is what type of MXM slot does the G71GX-RX05 use? 3.0B? because in the future i plan to get a better laptop with gaming in mind and if i can upgrade the video card in this one with something better(being watchful of the TDP off course) such as the gtx 280/460/480, i would like to use it temporarily in this thing then just swap it out when i decide to upgrade. hope it's the new revision, otherwise getting a old revision just isn't worth it since new cards use 3.0b

last but not least how many drive slots are there, for ssd's i can use any 2.5" sata 2 ssd? or 1.8, and for harddrive's i have to use laptop spefic models only correct with sata 2?

any input or information in regards to upgrades what could be done and any suggestions in regards to this laptop i'll be getting this week, much appreciated it.

EDIT: one more question i have which is offtopic has asus ever released a SLI i7 based laptop.

EDIT2: one more thing i forgot to ask, what is the difference between the g71gx-a1 vs g71gx-rx05, from what i understand the a1 runs the quad q9000, but motherboard wise is it the same( i'm guessing if that motherboard is complete the same for both, then i should have no problem handling a quad core ) the TDP for both laptops i'm assuming are within reason? and also cooling is the next concern as well