Every 17" laptop should have dual drive bays. With the latest chipsets SDD is not SATA anymore (SSD hits SATA limits).
I agree with you and others that 17" is overkill and full size keyboard is not the absolute neccessity. Even if it is, separate numeric pads are available from Esquire.
1080p resolution works very well on 15.6" panels. Higher resulution panels are expensive and rare in this country. It is better to settle for 1080p sub-13" or 14" screen and use external high res monitor. For programming job second monitor will be appreciated after few hours of work and smaller laptop is convenient when doing presentations.
On the other side 16GB RAM should be a requirement. If there is no need for three simultaneous screens or faster SSD interface (which newer chipsets do offer), I would chose second hand or demo unit with i5/i7. See classified section: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/forumdisplay.php/162-Classifieds-For-Sale
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