Like they say, go with a desktop.
If you're adamant about getting a laptop, I recently bought an Asus G75VW for $1250, sold at a bunch of retailers. Computer has been absolutely amazing so far and has extremely efficient fans and never gets loud (which was a HUGE problem on my Dell Studio XPS). I've run Sonic Ether's perfectly, even while running Fraps to record.
Basic Specs:
3rd gen i7-3610-QM
8GB ram
GeForce GTX 660M - 2GB
