In need of a low-cost DAW Laptop

Hi there, I'm in need of a low-cost laptop for Music Recording and Editing.

The main problem I'm facing right now is that I can't find a laptop with decent spec WITH a firewire interface(although there are some very pricy ones)

The info I need can be divided to three questions:
1)In general, what would be a reasonable laptop specs for a DAW laptop?
2)Is a firewire interface is neccessery?
3)if yes, is there an easy way to add firewire interface to a laptop without it?
if no, can I use usb audio interface(if they exist :) )

Thanks for the help.

Is there a well known/trusted site where I can "build" my desired laptop specs from scratch just like I want it?

cause I guess it would be kinda difficult to find laptops with separate Hard Drives which are important for a DAW and obviously a few more parts I'd like to tweak :)

Try ADK, they make computers especially for audio http://www.adkproaudio.com/

express slot to firewire might be a nice way to go about.

I use the Rain Livebook with the i7 processor.  It has firewire built in, plus came with a Texas Instruments (very important) Firewire Express card.  I got this one because it also has an eSATA port which I use for streaming Samples/Audio.  Comes with Virtual XP software for surfing the web virus free. 

You get what you pay for.  Depends on how hard you plan to push your system and how much headache you want for not spending more.

I started cheaper with a different brand (Dell) that said it had firewire and 7200 RPM hard drive (I prefer 10000RPM), turned out to have a 5400rpm hard drive.  Then another model said it had firewire and didn't.  Long story short, sent 4 back then went with RAIN since the specialize in audio laptops.  I'm already a pretty experienced audio computer tweaker myself, so I could tell they knew what they were doing.

express slot to firewire might be a nice way to go about.

 
Often, off-the-shelf laptops use the same (crap) brand Firewire and Express-card controller.
IOW, You aren't circumventing the original problem.
While it may work... it likely won't work nearly as well as a quality TI chipset FW controller.
If you're going with an off-the-shelf laptop, do yourself a major favor and use a good USB 2.0 audio interface.

Hey, Donald Duck,
 
please tell me, what laptop did you buy?
An what is the make of the firewire controller.

Zonno


Hey, Donald Duck,
 
please tell me, what laptop did you buy?
An what is the make of the firewire controller.

Hey. Sorry I missed this before. I got a Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q8104 18.4-Inch Gaming Laptop.  Besides the fireware port, i7 processor, 8GB Ram, and huge screen, another cool thing is the 1TB Hard drive space.  IT has two 7200 RPM half TB Hard drives, making it ideal for audio.  I keep Sonar, Sibelius, Wavelab, etc. on one HD and shoot the audio to its own HD.  It's awesome, but it's extremely heavy.