I know the holy grail of battery/weight/performance is not really achieveable but I am looking for the best I can get for under $3000 USD.
For gaming I usually play PoE, games like Slay the Spire, Anthem, Apex Legends, Guild wars 2
For work I use SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio, and often will VPN in to an RDP server to do work there
Battery performance is probably my top most important piece here (not when gaming, I will likely be plugged in any time I game). But since I may end up flying a lot for work it would be nice for the laptop to last 4-6+ hours if there are no outlets available.
Pretty sure I will want a 15 inch laptop as that is what my current Nomatic Backpack can carry, but may consider a 17 if the performance/battery life increase is really worth it and will just get a seperate backpack for this new laptop. At my previous job I had the xps 9560 (32 gigs ram, 4k touch screen, 1050 ti) and LOVED it, but it sucked for gaming anything beyond indie games. Plus that webcam placement was atrocious.
Some specs I need:
16 gigs ram, 32 would be ideal
would prefer 512+ SSD
Don't care if it is GTX or RTX graphics. Whatever is best for what I need.
Would prefer if it looks at least semi-professional. I won't really be in front of clients but I don't want it screaming gamer.
I have been looking at the following laptops
1. Legion y740 - There is currently a deal for the 15.6 inch, 2070 MQ, 256 SSD+1TB HDD, 144 hz screen, 16 gig 2666 all for $1400
2. Razer blade 15
3. Gigabyte Aero 15 Y9
4. Alienware M15
5. MSI P65 Creator or MSI GS65/75 Stealth