The first one has a 4720, not a 4710. Its 12GB vs 16GB RAM, not double.
I think it's a considerable difference, the 4720 clocks to 3.6 stock.
I would buy the first one because I believe it's always better to get the upgrades that you won't be able to change down the line.

You don't really need more than 12 gigs of RAM, either way. You can get a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB for like...$70-$80 online and a 8 gig stick of ram you can get for less than $40 if you look around, so, no $200 isn't worth it for a 128GB SSD and 4gb of RAM. In fact, even $100 may not be worth it because you don't know what kind of SSD it will come with. I don't think the JL can mount a M.2 drive, either so...

I found that 128GB is not enough for me as a system drive. That, and as small a difference as it makes, the HDD on the first one runs at 7200RPM.

In an ideal situation, I would buy a JT for the 970M, to justify the large size this notebook is gonna have anyways...and then add SSD and more RAM further down the line, they're readily available most anywhere (except maybe Africa).

hey there,

Even though i do agree to Edweird here... in terms of sheer cost and specs.. the 1st option is much fruitful...
but as the same time.. i believe any SSD is better than no SSD.
I'm not sure if you can add an SSD afterwards on your own. based on this assumption. I'll tell you the experience i had with my old laptop.
I had an acer aspire 4750G. 1st gen corei5(2gigs i guess), 4gb ram, and 500 gb hardisk, it server me a good 5 years (saying it in terms of what our definition of good was around 7 years back 😛 ). i obviously was fed up with the machine as it lagged... simple operations took time,and don't even get me started on the gaming scenario. then i installed a 128gb SSD and removed the HDD (as there was only one bay). and the exact words i'd like to use to describe what happened are... "Mind=blown" it operated faster than it did out of the box!!! I admit it didn't have much of an effect on gaming..maybe coz i was using an ext-hdd and installed my games on that. bt I still have it and its being used at my office for work... and it is decent enuff... just coz of the SSD... imagine .. its nearly 8 years onld laptop and it still runs as fast as any mainstream laptop today which doesn't have an SSD.
Its due to this experience that I preferred having an SSD on my new system.
I have a 751JY, its fitted with a SSD+Hdd setup. and needless to say its blazing fast

also if ur playing in the price bracket of 1700-1900... Y not simply go for the JY.. it costed me around 2200 (equivalent INR). and that was around January of this year.. i'm not sure bt the price would be lower now don't you think?

So yea the ultimate call is yours, and if you are sure that you can fit an SSD, after the purchase, from the "aftermarket". then sure ... go for the 1st option... bt if you cant... then opt for the 2nd one.. trust me it'll pay off in the long run.

Hope i helped. 🙂

My point was that he should get the model with the 4720 and at the same time also buy a Samsung 250GB SSD, it's instantly better value.
The 12GB of RAM is enough ... just that I'm not sure it's going to be configured correctly to work in dual channel and, of course, being a 8 and 4 gig module setup, that's not full on dual channel, either.

And yeah, I recommend getting at least a JT with the same money and just get a SSD separately because it's cheaper.
I don't think the JL comes with a M.2 PCI-E slot, but it fit does, then that explains the price difference.

Give them a call and ask if that SSD is M.2. Those are the standard US DB models, which, if I recall correctly, aeolisio said all come with M.2 SSDs.

If it isn't, try and get a model without SSD and buy your own for better value. 🙂
Otherwise, I'd keep a lookout for prices closer to your original choice, just do what you can to grab a GTX970M-equipped one. Also be careful about G-SYNC...the description says it has it but the specs don't...