New Gaming Laptop under 1300$
 

Maximum Budget: 1200 +/- 100 $

Games I'll play: GTA IV, Battlefield 3, Crysis 2. Modern Warfare 3 and other similar ones.

Now, would expecting a 1200$ laptop to do these games without considerable lag on HIGH (I'd be happy using HIGH settings instead of ULTRA) be legit?

Plus, should I wait a few months (if you see some exciting affordable releases in a next few months with new GPUs, I can wait till June)? If not, then which one'd be the best right now?

My favorite yet would be the MSI GT683R and this custom one with a 570M. Your views on these?

Before we go any further i would really like to know in which resolution r u going to play at:1080p,720p.Afterall i can't suggest a GTX580M if ur just planning to play in a normal HD res.
Also GTA IV will need a serious Horse power to power the euphoria engine due to, its instant code generation (AI,Physics,Impacts...etc) so u will need no less than 4 cores if ur really planning to engage your self in GTA IV (thought i can never garantee a 60FPS,PPL can't even lock 60FPS with a GTX590,in a desktop machine in 1080p in GTA IV i repeat so bare that in mind!!!!???!!!!)

I'm not looking for 60 FPS, 35-40 (Avg FPS) on a 1080p resolution will be okay.

I can tell you now you aren't going to run BF3 on high for $1200 on a laptop, MW3 no problem but not BF3. My $1200 desktop runs BF3 on high with 45-72 fps

Yeah you'll need a GTX580M in order to play any of those games on high.

A GTX570M will do just fine in all of those games,it should deliver smooth 40-50 or even higher than 60 depending on the game,With reasonably high settings (MW3 u can max that out no problem)
so i, wouls suggest disabling MSAA (a post processing AA like MLAA or FXAA will not be a problem) and turning shadows down to a reasonable level.That way i can ensure very good gaming experience
All current generation games have some very advanced graphical options layout,a GTX570M will do superbly well,as you know how to mess with settings until u get the framerate ur hoping to achieve

Take a look at this video Linus posted the other day - Gaming Notebook Buyer's Guide - Optimizing CPU vs GPU NCIX Tech Tips - YouTube

Looks like the ASUS would provide you enough for what you need, and I think some of them run down to around 1300. The MSI is significantly more. You should take a look at some Sager notebooks though, there is a Canadian reseller for it named reflexnotebooks.

I've watched this video already. Like, 3 minutes from when he uploaded it :P

My question is, would the custom built one with a 570M, i7 2nd gen processor based notebook be able to render 35-45 FPS on BF3/GTA 4 with High Settings (not Ultra) on 1080p?

Without a doubt,THE HECK YES IT WILL!