Gaming laptop - do i proceed or wait

I’m currently looking to buy a powerful laptop that will hopefully cover my needs for at least the next 5 years.

Use case is: Work (Office tools, Python, data science stuff), occasional gaming (I don’t really play the latest AAA 2026 titles, but I’d still like something reasonably future-proof), AI of course, with some plans to experiment with local models — where the 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM might be quite useful — and some hobby game development, which I’m just starting to experiment with.

Budget: (up to 3500k Euros)
Country: (Europe/Greece)
Use Case: Work (Office tools, Python, data science stuff), occasional gaming (I don’t really play the latest AAA 2026 titles, but I’d still like something reasonably future-proof), AI of course, with some plans to experiment with local models — where the 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM might be quite useful — and some hobby game development, which I’m just starting to experiment with, maybe tinker with UE5)
Preferred Specs: (5080/ 5070ti, Ultra 7/9, 32GB RAM+, 1TB min)

At the moment I’m leaning towards the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IAX10H 16" OLED QHD+ 240Hz, with Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, GeForce RTX 5080

Price is around €3,400 including VAT, or roughly €2,800 before VAT, since I’m buying it as a professional.

A few questions:

• Any other recommendations with similar specs? I also found an MSI Vector 16 HX for around €2,750, but it only comes with 2x8 GB RAM. My impression is that the build quality is a step below the Legion, and 16 GB of system RAM would definitely need upgrading. Given current RAM prices, I’m not sure whether it actually ends up being good value.
• Does it make more sense to go for an RTX 5070 Ti instead? Prices drop quite significantly — in some cases by as much as €1,000 — but then I’m mostly looking at ASUS, Gigabyte, etc., and I’m not sure how much I trust those models in terms of build quality, thermals and long-term reliability.
• Is this even a good time to buy? The Legion model/specs are technically from 2025, and it feels a bit disappointing to spend around €3,000 on something that isn’t from the latest model year. On the other hand, looking at where GPU, RAM and NVMe SSD prices seem to be heading, I’m not sure waiting any longer actually makes sense.

Would appreciate any opinions, especially from people who have experience with the Legion Pro 7, RTX 5080 laptops, or comparable 5070 Ti machines.