[lordsmurf]

Look for a PCMCIA or ExpressCard slot on your laptop, and then buy a real audio card for it. That's the way to go.

Examples:

• Creative Labs SB0950 ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook USB Audio System
• Echo Indigo PCMCIA Audio Interface (but a tad pricey)

I don't know that I'd suggest the USB2 audio sticks. Most of them are generic, and probably no better than what's in the laptop already.

My laptop has integrated SoundBlaster card, multi in/out, it's nice.

This is a pretty nice mixer: Behringer 802 8-Input Mixer ($60 shipped)

And then if you can budget for software, I'd suggest Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 (the $55 consumer version) over Audacity. I like some of the filters in Audacity, but Sound Forge is more powerful. If the budget isn't there, then Audacity is okay, amongst the free options.

A good audio workflow is cheap these days.

I remember starting with digital audio in the early 90s, when 16-bit cards cost a fortune, and the software was DOS-based and somewhat difficult. Filters were more of a wish-list than anything else.

Things have changed a lot in the past 20 years.