Gaming Laptop Advice

[Jaser]

So I'm getting a gaming PC, hopefully by the end of the summer. I should have about $1200 from the work I'm going to do, and any other necessary funds can be pulled from my college fund (since I'm gonna need a laptop by next year anyway, might as well keep me occupied). So I was wondering if I should just get a high-end gaming computer from the internet (sager, alienware, etc.) or if I should build my own. If the former, advice on the model and specs would be helpful, and if the latter, what are some good parts. Any help would be great guys, any at all.
Also, I have a fairly good idea of what I'm going to get if building a PC ends up being better, but I just wanna hear you guys' advice on it first.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Gaming wise, go for the Desktop. Gaming laptops for a good size/quality will cost quite a bit more then a Desktop and cant be customized hardware-wise for future upgrades. (besides HDD/RAM)

Take a look at the sudgestion I mention in a similar post. (saves me re-typing it all)
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/538.271282-Gaming-pc

 

[CountChocula99]

It will be cheaper to build a gaming desktop + 1080p or better monitor + buy a thin, portable laptop. Check some components on newegg and you will get an idea of the price. The forum on [link]http://www.tomshardware.com[/link] is a great resource for building a desktop.

If you absolutely need to go with a laptop and no desktop, you can buy a gaming laptop for under $1200, but it will likely be pretty heavy and bulky. You can get some idea from the laptops on [link]http://www.xoticpc.com/[/link] and look for something with a minimum 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution and for laptop video card go with 5830M or better (AMD) or 460M or better (NVIDIA), ideally with DX11.

I have a laptop with 5830M, which is a second tier card, and it runs about any recent game I've tried at 1920x1080, with DX11 and all detail settings maxed.