Hello and Congrats for your Bday:

About the sound cards or Audio capture interfaces, for the lap tops I would recomend the USB/Firewire,...( some with Midi I/O), Right now GC has a blow out in the Quattro (M-Audio)with 4ins-4outs plus one midi I/O...for about half price.......now if you want something with more control, the new Omega by Lexicon....also the Edirol ( Roland) the UA700 is really nice, check their web site...a lot of models to choose from.....I hope this info help you....Greetings.