Anthony, What UD says about soundcards is right, you are pretty much stuck with whatever is inside. But, what I think you are really talking about is an interface. An excellent, reasonably inexpensive interface to connect your equipment to the laptop would be something like the Tascam US122. Edirol and M-Audio have comparable items. It doesn't sound like you need any internal sounds, so softsynths are not what you are looking for either. If your laptop is new and has a Pentium 3 or 4, then you should have no trouble getting your audio into the LT thru the interface I suggest. I have one and it is great. I would check out different laptops and compare drives, speeds and in/out availability. Almost everything uses USB 2.0 or Firewire; make sure you have enough I/O ports for your needs.