dell studio 1745 with SSD option, More RAM & Battery life

hi new here
looking to purchase a new laptop with good video editing capabilities and moderate gaming
so thus far have zoned in on the new crop of corei7 lappys

the dells stand out due to the well received rgb led screens
ie studio xps16 and studio 17
(plus ive been using their laptops for a while and have been pretty happy. Its more comfortable, when spending a packet, to do business with a familiar company)
out of these options, the dell studio 17 stands out due to its dual hard drives

almost ready to pull the trigger
but had a few questions i was curious about, just to weigh in all the pros cons etc
namely:

SSD OPTION: (for the performance benefit)

1a. Id like to add a SSD hard drive as the primary hard disk (with a 500/320 gb stock HD for storing my data). Is this possible? Since the dell store does not provide this option, i was thinking of buying it separately and adding it by myself

1b. Has anyone done this as yet. Will it have consequences (eg void my warranty etc)

1c. Which specific variety of ssd will the laptop accept? ie what SSD specs should i be looking for? (im quite the SSD noob, so please bear with me)

1d. Any recommendations (im not unwilling to spend money, but am leaning towards a good bang-for-the-buck situation if possible) eg ocz or intelx25 etc

MORE RAM:

The ram upgrades on the Dell Store are pretty steeply priced. Is it possible again to, again, buy more ram separately and add it myself

2a. Again what specific ram will this laptop accept
2b. Is going this route worth it? will it be cheaper this way? or is it too much trouble and risky (eg with the possibility of voiding the warranty and/or bricking the laptop) ?
2c If this is indeed a viable option, what Brand of ram do you recommend? eg kingston 1333 or corsair etc (again bang-for-the-buck a priority)

BATTERY LIFE:
having scoured this site and elsewhere on the web, I havent been able to find any test-results pertaining to this laptops battery life and heat issues.

3a. anyone have any user experience in this department?
maybe a link to a review or something i can read to find out
3b. Looking to pick up the larger capacity battery.
Does it add a lot of extra weight?
How much increase in battery life should i expect?
is the relative increase in battery life worth the extra weight?

thanks in advance you guys
looking forward to your replies
regards
adi



ps: (lol, just for the sake of my peace-of-mind)
Since im still researching laptops and still am pretty open to suggestions do you guys have other laptop models (acer, asus, hp etc) in mind which might suit my requirements better.
Something i might have missed maybe. Or perhaps should i wait for certain awaited laptops which should be out soon
(am also looking at the asus g51j as well, but the dell screen sort of won me over)

 

Upgrading RAM is straightforwards - I get mine from Crucial.com. It is *way* cheaper than Dell's.

SSDs? Not sure that you'd notice the difference in day to day use (although I am now opening myself up for stacks of flame saying that it boots 1.5seconds faster and so on).