I keep thinking about upgrading, but haven't pulled the trigger. Below is what I'm looking at upgrading to. My budget is under $400. I game and edit photo and video, although this is mostly for gaming as the editing is fine on the current specs. In fact, I may be able to do without the memory upgrade. I'm not sure. I'll also post what I'm currently running. If you have any suggestions that would be better buys please let me know.

Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)

Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz

6GB DDR3

Nvidia GeForce 550Ti

Stock Gateway PSU

Stock Gateway Motherboard

Motherboard:

ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU:

Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz

Memory:

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)

PSU:

CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W

I'm thinking of upgrading my CPU and motherboard as I'm ok with what I currently have for the rest, and honestly, don't have the funds to build an all new rig. So, I'm wondering what is the best bang for buck grouping I can get? I prefer Intel. Currently have a i3 530 and considered OCing (never done it before) but am restricted by the Gateway motherboard it came with. Not to mention the 530 is quite old by todays standards. I'm not sure of a budget yet, so that's why I'm asking for the best for the money spent.

So are that laptops not like TVs where certain manufacturers make better products than the competition at a given time? That's all I'm looking for at this point. From there I can determine what I want as far as functionality, features, etc.

Are there any specific brands to look at for laptops? Do the brands that make good quality laptops also make good ultrabooks or is there some disparity? Same question goes with Windows 8 compatibility. Do some brands work better with Windows 8 than others? Thanks for any help.