I'm looking to buy a portable recorder like the Zoom H4. My friend thinks that I can get just as good a recording by buying a mic and some sort of portable digital recorder to plug it into. I don't know that much about recording so I would like to know the opnions of more experienced people.

Sound quality is the most important factor in all this, followed by portability, then price. Does my friend have a point, or should I stick with an H4?