Windy cases are worth the price premium. I have owned 13 over the last 3 years (I was a seller of them on Overclock.net). They are great cases. I have owned every major case and I continue to prefer Soldam cases over them all.
I use it to play back videos right now. Excellent device. I am in love with it. I just installed Zeam launcher as the default launcher. I have not looked back yet.
I sent you a pm. I have an HP Envy with Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu installed for sale:
http://www.overclock.net/mobile-computing/883009-fs-hp-envy-15-i5-925-a.html
My 15" does not whine at all. It is a great laptop. I just installed a G2 160GB as well. Great laptop. I am going to sell it so I can buy a 17" version.