I'm now halfway through school. I'm considering potentially parting out the X79 desktop and selling it. In the fall I will be at either Rollins College or University of Florida, potentially on campus and potentially off, not sure which yet. I'm not really looking for a system to take to class for notes etc, I have an older Kindle Fire HD 7" I dedicated to that usage.
 
However, I would like essentially a desktop replacement, as it is a bit of a pain to move the behemoth, especially 2x per semester. The most likely replacement would be a high end laptop more so than an ITX. Budget would be let's say under $2500.
 
Requirements:
Storage: I'd say needs to have at least 120GB SSD, RAID would be nice but not 100% needed. I don't need a ton of space so one drive would do.
CPU: must be i7, just can't step down that much.
RAM: 8-16GB
Display: High end, 1080P minimum
Size? Let's say under 15.4"
GPU: Now this is a tough one, ideally I would like a GTX 970M or 980M.
 
One that I like is the Razer Bade QHD+ with the 128GB SSD. Total for it with my student discount comes to $2089. I know there's also Sager to consider which I'm open to but I do really like the form factor of the Blade.
 
I'm not 100% set on doing this, just considering it right now.
 
Edit: Forgot, what will I be doing with it? 3ds MAX, Kerbal Space Program, homework, Cryengine 3 sandbox and simulations, moderate gaming?, light photo editing, streaming, etc.

I'd look at doing a tight ITX, an IPS/.25 or less on the ppi. Surely they'd give you enough room for an ITX and 25"-ish monitor. Modeling on a small monitor and a TN panel is going to kill ur eyes.
 
i7, ram, ssd, ITX case, say a low watt gtx 960, and IPS monitor, diff a better way to spend $2K, and prob last u through college. And easier on ur eyes/fatigue...

Check into MSI. I got a GS70 last year, and it's awesome. The only things that don't meet your requirements is the 17" display, and I have a GTX 870M not the 970M.

I'd definitely go with an ITX rig with a Titan X instead. A GTX 970/980M isn't going to cut it for 3200x1800.

 
Moving to General Hardware.

RainStryke
A single GTX 980 desktop version isn't going to hold up to a Dell U3415W.

 
Monitor was just an example, very unlikely I would get it. More than likely a monitor would be running 1080p to be more realistic, but that is a fair point.
 
Looking into it further I like the G501, the only thing I don't like is the 15.6" size compared to the 14" Blade. Again I'm not certain I'm going to buy anything, just trying to keep options open.