As for Xotic (and similar), this is a great option for somebody who knows exactly what they want (and why) and is willing to pay a little more for well-tested high-performance parts that are not quite as current as the major brands can afford to offer. Their core customers are enthusiasts and hard-core gamers.
I don't think this is what the OP is looking for, but for someone who is looking for the highest performance, search for "Clevo" and "Sager", along with "Asus". I had a Sager laptop in the early days (it ran win95) and I was well pleased with it. But if you're looking for a mid-range laptop (I believe the OP is), I don't think the price/value is there, compared to the $5,000 laptops that you can't get anywhere else.
