R835-P89 -- keep it or return it? +concerns

Per Toshiba Direct Toshiba Portg R835-P89 13.3" widescreen Laptop (Blue) | Laptops | Computers | us.toshiba.com , the R835-P89 is a R835 variation that is Microsoft Store affiliated.

The main differences are a a slightly better processor (i5-2450M) and 6GB RAM instead of the typical 4 GB. I bought this for $530 tax included but I am having second thoughts.

My concerns:
1) The issue with aluminum vs copper heat sink
2) SATA III restrictions

I am unsure what sure of consequences these things will have for me. Any feedback? Thank you very much!

I'm also having a difficult time discerning which parts of the laptop are made of the magnesium alloy. It seems the lid is as well as the palm rest are made of metal. But what about the sides of the laptop, e.g. where the USB/HDMI ports are?

 

First day impressions:
-it's not as sturdy say the Macbook Pro but for $530 + 200 coupon off for future purchases (bought an Xbox+game to sell on craigslist), I can't complain. Overall though, it's sturdy.
-preliminary battery life is 6-7hr which is quite reasonable
-keyboard is somewhat shallow but I am already used to it
-touchpad is fairly good. Having dedicated left+right clicks is good after trying some of HP's horrible integrated touchpad attempts
-the lid is fairly thin. I am not sure how safe it'll be putting the laptop into my bookbag. The lid is more black than blue. In the stock images, Toshiba shows it as having a very blue color but the blue color is only apparent in bright lighting. Not a con at all but just something interesting to note.

 

1. Shouldn't be a big deal, maybe more of an annoyance knowing it has an aluminum heat sink.

2. I think SATA-III should be enabled [limited by Toshiba BIOS], but unless you plan on buying a SATA-III drive, you won't notice any difference. In my opinion SATA-II is still pretty darn fast. I plan on buying a z835 for grad school and I'm not bothered by the SATA-II limitations [all laptops prior to 2011 use SATA-II; to give a time reference any first generation Intel i-core laptop uses SATA-II].



Good luck with your new laptop and keep us posted with an updates

 

Thanks. I spoke with a friend yesterday and he said the difference between SATA-III drive vs SATA-II drive is minimal and cannot be seem in real-life performance. He said just having a SSD will make a world of difference. I don't plan on buying one YET but I've noticed that there are quite a few on sale right now.