College laptop

Going off to college in a few months. Will be majoring in computer engineering and will play a few games. Was going to build a HTPC but battery life just isn't realistic. So, I have to submit to getting a laptop.

I need 8-16GB of RAM
At least 4 cores @ 2.3 GHz
At least 1 thunderbolt 3 port (I have a gtx 1080 I can throw in an external chassis)

Basically, a generic cheapish gaming PC. Budget is $2,000

I'm looking at this... "Asus ROG Zephyrus" https://www.amazon.com/Zephyrus-GM50...m%2Bgm501&th=1

Thoughts?

If you already have a graphics card, I recommend searching for a more "cheaper" option since you won't be needing the GPU that is included in a laptop. I recommend purchasing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1Q0M4O..._1GE-AbVX67WDXⓘ or this if you don't need 4K resolution and require a higher refresh rate: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BPB3FL5..._vIE-Ab8MWGB4Wⓘ

if you wanna game dont get any 7th intel cpus for laptops, only go for the laptops which have higher end 8th gen i7s

those are by far superior and also take less power in idle
for 2grand you can get a decent machine for gaming, although battery life isnt great then


you might wanna think about getting a surface or similar for college and build a desktop pc for gaming

I currently use this laptop for gaming and it is perfect if you're always on the go, however, battery life lasts less than 2 hours. It's not the best option if you're in lecture trying to take notes and your laptop dies unless you're planning on keeping it plugged in the whole time. The laptop and charger also gets really hot when using as well. If you can, get a laptop entirely for school and build a PC for gaming.

get that SSD, game changer in college