I still use my early 2011 MBP 17 with BTO 2.3Ghz I-7. It's got 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and updated 802.11AC wifi (no dongle, the internal card was replaced and upgraded!)
For the last eight years, I have refused to buy any laptop from Apple unless they release a larger screen version of what's available now. When they disco'ed the 17, I felt that the current machines were lame and still do (my opinion). I bought almost every 17 inch portable machine from Powerbook on up that they released.
I am still running the original motherboard and have never had the inevitable GPU failure.
Love this machine. I hope whatever they are rumored to come out with is a major upgrade from the current 15 inch machines and how they are configured.
I would LOVE to have the modular setup a TOTL Lenovo or Dell Precision workstation offers from Apple, reminiscent of the old Wallstreet machines that you could put anything in the bays and internals were upgradeable (even the processor!!)
Everything now is disposable or hinders self repair. Sometimes progress sucks.