It will perform amazing. but please consider the following:

Its huge. If they are using it for school this laptop may be a bit much to carry from class to class. The unit weighs 8.4lb. Plus if you add in the charger its right around 9lb of carrying weight. Add their books on top of it and it may be to heavy for day to day carry between classes.

Its Powerful. This laptop is one of the best you can buy in terms of how powerful it is. This unit can do everything and then some. But if all they are using it for is school, it could be over kill.

Its pricy. If money is not a problem then don't even read this line, but the unit is pricy. And again, if all they are going to use this for is school you could get something much cheaper and save some bucks.

I suppose it would be important to know what he is going to school for. If he is doing any sort of graphic design or 3D animation, something this powerful is justified. but if not you could probably save come cash and go with a laptop that has a 960m, and maybe even do a 15in screen to save on the weight. I'm not sure if you are trying to surprise him, but you may want to ask some questions about what he will be using it for, or how many books does he have to carry to help determine the best option.

I pulled some ideas from Newegg.com. These are not the end all be all of laptop solutions but they may give you an idea and at least give you some options. I have listed them from most powerful to least powerful. Please note that even the least poI hope it helps.

Keep in mind that on these forums we are all mostly ASUS heavy users. They have quality builds and have the best laptop cooling in the industry. These are also "Gaming" laptops. This does not mean that they are only for gaming, but anything classified as a "Gaming Laptop" indicates it is very powerful. ASUS has many laptops that may meet their needs if they not need a lot graphics processing power.

Most Powerful $1,498 (17', 980m, 8.4lb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232849&cm_re=g751-_-34-232-849-_-Product

Very Powerful $1,149 (17', 970m, 8.4lb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232863&cm_re=g751-_-34-232-863-_-Product

Decently Powerful $978 (17, 965m, 8.4lb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232864&cm_re=g751-_-34-232-864-_-Product

just enough Power but smaller screen and 2.4lb Lighter $729 (15', 960m, 6lb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232848&cm_re=asus_rog-_-34-232-848-_-Produc...

Choice if they don't need graphical power, but still performs very well. This one is not considered a "Gaming Laptop" $589 (15', 940m, 5.1lb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834232793&cm_re=asus_laptop-_-34-232-793-_-Pro...

Just a thought: I am soon wrapping up my fifth year in university (two B.S., applied math, physics), and I have always used an inexpensive, used (retired), business-class laptop from eBay - they have always been sufficient for my work, and my emphasis is computational physics.

My best recommendation is: find a used business-class laptop on eBay, with a dual or quad core i5 (in the $100 to $250 range), spend $100 on a decent 250 GB SSD, spend $80 on a decent external HDD, and have him keep always an up-to-date image backup for the event that the laptop dies, and just move the SSD over if you have to replace a dead laptop.

In 4.5 years at uni, I have used two laptops total, and I have spent no more than $500 in total (on laptops, not counting my gaming machine 🙂 ).

Z

EDIT: In response to CUNIAC's statement about graphic design: If that sort of thing is what he will be studying, then the school will have MUCH more powerful machines at his disposal for that work. That type of computer isn't one he'd need for word processing.

EDIT: To clarify the first paragraph: my emphasis is in computational physics, and I didn't start using my desktop for work until I needed to learn parallel processing for a project to study the precession of the perihelion of Mercury.

Really appreciate the responses guys. He will be off to uni next September studying physics. The pc we built a few years ago for him is now struggling so I was going to treat him to a laptop that will cover all his needs including his steam library. Bululu has a point regarding gaming and study...I feel I can trust him enough though to get on with study and when he has a little spare time to relax have the option for a little game.
I've got the g751jy and am aware of its size...its a beast!. We don't have newegg here in the uk and I cannot find anywhere that does the wh71model. I have come across these tho
http://www.simplyasus.com/G751JT-T7250H-ASUS-G751JT-T7250H_1811138.html
http://www.simplyasus.com/GL552JX-CN182H-ASUS-GL552JX-CN182H_1771345.html
and this one could be the one..
http://www.simplyasus.com/GL552VW-DM201T-ASUS-GL552VW-DM201T_1829304.html
not sure how well the GL552s cooling is though..

Not sure about the cooling on that GL552VW but it looks nice and has the newer DDR4 and Intel chip. it also has a 960m so he could do some gaming and its about 5.6 pounds or 2.591 kg ;), I would it pick over the 552JX. The 751JT has the 970m so it would be better for gaming but its also weighs more. so either new 15in that's lighter or a heavier 17in that games better lol.