Thanks for the response K.Jack. So looking at my final configuration, this is about where I would end up..
Intel® Haswell Core i7-4800MQ (2.7GHz - 3.7GHz, 6MB Intel® Smart Cache)
NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 870M (3.0GB) GDDR5 PCI-Express DX11 w/ Optimus Technology
16GB DDR3 1600MHz [SKU-818EP] (Dual Channel Memory (2x8GB SODIMMS))
128GB Solid State mSATA
1TB 7200RPM (SATA III - 6GB/s)
6x Blu-Ray Burner + 8x DVDRW/CDRW Super Multi Combo Drive
Trinkets
32GB Drive Pen (Free)
Full Size Notebook Cooler for 17 inch Laptops (35 dollars) (worth it?)
MSI Interceptor DS100 Gaming Mouse (Free, would sell I guess)
Cost would be around 1500. Is that a sound price? I think I should add that in general, 90 percent of my usage for this computer is listening to music, browsing or watching movies with my gaming habits being mostly minor (think running sonic generations or something), so i'm wondering if this setup is a bit overkill. It's just the earliest model I saw that mentions having good speakers and such. Are there other benefits to having a beefy GPU outside of gaming? I'm more so looking for an excellent media computer that has a nice screen, great speakers, and won't buckle when I have 30 tabs open in a browser, but also will work under those loads years down the road.
1500 isn't too bad though, just want to make sure i'm not splurging when I don't have to, i'm basically wanting something future proof for normal middle ground gaming usage (so nothing too modern on that front)