sorry i forgot to include question on cpu for my son's gaming laptop, would i5 processor be good enough for his gaming or should i just get it with the i7 processor.w/ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 4GB with NVIDIA Battery Boost + NVIDIA Optimus. & 1TB hard drive standard lance configuration for him.

Ripper,

I don't see that a Core i5 is an option on the Lance.  Even the minimum config appears to be over the $1400 you want to spend.  Also the 1TB drive you mention is only 5400RPM, so that will affect performance on the laptop.  Hard drives are the biggest bottleneck, and these days, at least one SSD is nearly a requirement.  A 5400 RPM drive is going backwards.  As a data drive it would be fine, but not as a primary.

You also say you want the laptop to last a good 3 years, so it's even more imperative that you buy something with slightly better specs as you and he may not be happy over the next three years.

As for bprat's advice, it would be good to wait a little bit.  DS has said the new 9x0 cards are coming next month, and when those hit, you'll likely see some component and price shuffling that may be more to your liking.

As for your configuration, my last gaming laptop had 8GB of RAM and it wasn't enough.  16GB would be good if you can afford it.  And again, I'd definitely wait till the parts refresh next month before buying.

Also, a single 250GB SSD is great for your primary drive, but if you're going to have lots of games installed, it's not large enough, so you'll want the second drive at least, or go for a much larger SSD, at least 512GB, especially if you do anything with video or photos.

Hope this helps, and if you wait, the reshuffle of parts next month may bring even better options for you that are still in your price ranges.