I'm in the market for a powerful CAD laptop, so it needs a good processor and good graphics. I'm not bothered about battery life. It seems difficult to find anything.
Fast, but not a dekstop cpu. To OP, last time I saw a dekstop cpu for a laptop was around the i7-950 times, it had a miniscule battery life and got really hot, it's not a good idea, laptops have laptop cpu's for a reason. If you want fast make sure to get the intel XM series, but not the top one, usually go two below top for a decent price then overclock up.
You can always play a cooling fan underneath whatever laptop you choose. It dropped the temps on mine considerably.
powerful CAD laptop, HP Zbook? i7 quad core, NV quadro. plus excelent temperature, according to nbcheck
Sager has what you ask for http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_info&model_name=NP9570
Eurocom, Sager - and lots of other brands (One, XMX, Schenker, Prostar, whatever...), are all Clevo clones/built into Clevo chassis and usually configurable.
Fixed a laptop that used desktop RAM a few weeks back, first time in decades Ive seen that - I know 100% because I upgraded their RAM with an old desktop PCs RAM