Overwhelmed by gaming laptops

[Haltingpoint_01]

I'm in the market for a thin (under 1") gaming laptop. I was considering the new Razer Blade, and possibly something from MSI or Sager. However I'm completely overwhelmed by all the different model options and not sure what the differences are.

My main uses will be gaming (likely hooked up to my desktop monitor/keyboard/mouse), photo editing, web browsing, media streaming, and programming. In terms of technical specs, I'd ideally like:

• 
  - 14-15" monitor or smaller
  - 256-512GB SSD
  - 1TB+ HDD
  - 12GB+ RAM
  - GTX 970m or 980m
  - 4hrs+ battery life
  - Headphone and mic jack and ideally something that I can hook up to my 5.1 system

Beyond that, I'd like it to not wake the entire household when gaming with the fan noise, and I'd like to be able to browse the web or program with it on my lap without it cooking my nuts (obviously I'd expect it to get toasty when gaming). I also want it to not completely overheat and reboot after long gaming sessions which my OriginPC desktop does right now.

Budget is $1,500-$2,200

 

[ak47jar3d]

Razer blade laptops will take my vote just based on their phenomenal design without compromising performance, but would put you over budget.

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GS60-GHOST-PRO-064-15-6-Inch/dp/B00OBQ5YM8/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1454830527&sr=1-3&keywords=MSI+GS60+Ghost+Pro+15