Hello...I'm a PC-recently-turned-Mac-Lover and Need some Advice...

I want to build The Ultimate Portable Studio that can also Handle playing Multiple Resource-Hogging Plug-ins (Virtual Instruments)...

So, Two Purposes for the laptop:
1) Music Production and Recording (Cubase, Pro Tools)
2) Live Performance (V-Stack)…so in essence A VST Beast!

I plan on buying:
The Akai MPC2500
M-Audio Semi-weighted 88 Keys

Can someone help me out of this overwhelming decision process with What laptop? what interfaces work best...etc...all this "wait-to-buy"..."buy-now- stuff" is crazy

Any advice is Hugely appreciated...

I'll just throw some simple advice out there: power book with multiple gigs of ram. The Akai MPC2500 is a very expensive tool and it frustrates me that they don't include a firewire connection (its USB which is not bad but a CPU hog at times). Other than that it's amazing.

Word of warning though: i'm not sure if you are used to playing real pianos or synths, but the keys of the m-audio keystation's are really cheap feeling and aren't heavy enough for my tastes. But for the money it is a great midi controler.

Thanks for all the input...Hopefully there are others (Yes I'm talking to you =)...that would love to share their input as well...no Seriously your knowledge may seem like nothing to you but it means a whole lot to me at this point...

THE ULTIMATE PORTABLE STUDIO & VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT MACHINE =O

....Wow...is my excitement surpassing the speed of technology?...Is it possible?...anyone?...lol

I'd say go for the macbook (there will be other models by the end of the year) as you don't have legacy peripherals or software to run on it, it'd be a safe bet. But you'll have to wait a little for availability, including software.

Now the interface will be a problem… right now.

Now whatever the laptop: bcatcho is right… RAM! the more the merrier.

On the USB keyboard, I'd have a look at what's available, M-audio touch cheap but work usually, and now there's a load of controlers available everywhere, I don't know half of them.

On the high end, i'd look into the Korg and CMI direction… Now not everyone needs this stuff.

Now laptopists! it's your turn!