the Y500 with SLi will be released soon as now it is in pre-order stage. you can follow up updates at this topic.

illegear is not retailing their products in shops as the customizable option is quite a lot. so it is preferred to customize and buy online. by the way, you should customize according to your usage and budget to prevent wastage. for gaming usage, you can get 1TB HDD, core i7 3630qm, windows 8 SL and 8GB RAM. thats already enough for you.

1. check it on microsoft

2. im not sure about differences but you can the review.

3. yes it does.

i would recommend alienware if you like the cool chassis design, colourful backlit keyboard and warranty service.
i would recommend Y500 if you want something more powerful, cool red backlit keyboard and budget.
i would recommend RE-15 if you want something powerful, budget and customizable.

as overall, i will choose Lenovo Y500.

not advisable. i dont see the use of 16GB unless you are a hard core multitasker or heavy autocad project user.
programs will run faster but there isnt much changes if compared.

for mSATA and SSD, mSATA is a RAM like module. the speed of a mSATA is around 350MB/200MB in R/W speed. however, a SSD (which is a hard disk like) can run up to 550MB/500MB in R/W.

any shops do sell 128GB mSATA, just they might sell different brands or different pricing.

This may incorrect info

Just to share my experience on w8 clean install.

1. I bought a Lenovo E430 for my wife recently. It come with W8Pro licence and DVDs. On the HDD is a W7Pro installed (W8P come with downgraded W7P license) but without DVD.
2. I bought a Plextor M5S 256G SSD.
3. Asked my wife, she said she want to try W8P (she has some sampling of it on my old Y580, which I had passed to my cousin).
4. Checked the UEFI, the W8P license key was already in the UEFI. But I could not figure out the way to extract it. Key extractor would extract W7P license key as W7P was installed on the HDD.
5. Extracted the W7P license key. Also use the Lenovo apps to create backup recovery discs for W7P (since the laptop don't come with W7P DVD, and I never know if my wife will change her mind ).
6. Used the DVDs to install W8P on the HDD (I did not swap the SSD immediately). As usual, has all the Lenovo bloat ware.
7. Extracted the W8P license key.
8. Swapped the SSD in.
9. Did a clean install of W8P (MSDN ISO copy) on the SSD.
10. It never asked my about the W8P license key during OS installation. Installed all the Lenovo drivers, and laptop is running smooth.

So the conclusion from my experience is: If W8 OEM license key is in UEFI, you can do a clean installation of W8 from clean ISO (mine is from MSDN), and it will not ask you to key in license key during installation.

Raymond, RAM stick price fluctuate. It has been on the up recently. Don't sweat it
http://www.dramexchange.com/