[SirWolfy]

Probably the biggest thing I can tell you right now is this: whatever you choose to go with, make it for DJ use only. The reason for this is that the more stuff (printers, scanners, cameras, strobelights,etc.) that you have plugged into your CPS and the more programs that you have installed (like AOhell, video games, special screen savers, etc.) use up more of the system's resources; increasing the odds of there being an untimely system "hiccup" or "freeze"

Another thing, as you have found out, the more you try to give a laptop the capability and storage capacity of a desktop / tower or rack mount system, the more exspenive it gets. Is the portability of a laptop worth the added exspense of one or two external hard drives and a USB sound card??? In my opinion, no.

But to answer some of your questions without getting too much into details:

512MB RAM Minimum

Onboard Video is OK, AGP Video Card is better and uses less system resources

A Celeron @ 600MHz is the minimum CPU speed that you will need for JUST playback. For encoding music, you want as fast as you can afford to go! Pentium 4 3.0GHz+ with a FSB of 800MHz is about as good as it gets right now...

The size of the monitor is more personal preference than anything, but I recommend a minimum of 15"

I recommend a minimum of two hard drives for your CPS. One to have all of your operating system and software on and a large (200GB+) one for just music. Ideally, whatever your large drive ends up being, you purchase a second, identical sized one for backing up your music on.

A LAN / Ethernet / RJ-45 connection is a necessity for networking, wireless is not.

A high speed CD-ROM (48x or higher) is all that you need for converting your CDs to MP3s or any other format that you choose.

In a word, AVOID the likes of Gateway, Dell, HP / Compaq, E-machine, etc. Build your CPS yourself or have a reputable source do this for you. All of the companies mentioned above; send out all of their computers with oodles of useless and resource hogging software and hardware. Additionally, many times these machines are built by someone who is NOT a certified computer technician and may come complete with a full set of IT issues before you even open the box.

In summary, a laptop is extremely useful for client meeting and even using as a backup CPS in a pinch (I've used an ancient 400MHz LT a number of times for this...lol), but just does not compare to a larger system in many respects. Consider going the route of a rack mount system or a desktop / tower if you plan on a high-end, power user sound system.