Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the tips everyone!
I didn't even realize I could look at gaming laptops but in retrospect it makes perfect sense. and with those I don't need to worry about a pointless touchscreen being a thing. Even if its hideous I can always pile a bunch of stickers on it so thats not an issue.
Maybe sometime in the future I can try and make myself a custom hard drive.
Is there a good time to buy laptops aside from Black Friday or is that a thing that changes between brands and companies?