I made the leap & bought this new Presonus SL 24.4.2 board and it wouldn't even fit on my desk! (originally designed and built for ITB work)  I had to remove a large section of the speaker shelf (used to go all the way around the back of the desk). I also made wooden sides to basically run down the sides of the console, well, just because I thought they would look cooler and show that the desk was made for this board.  I love the new 24.4.2.  It is very capable interface and the pre's seem to be good so far.  for simple or live recordings, they can be mixed down right on the board using the fat channel & DSP effects,  for more serious studio productions I am sure I will continue to mix mostly in the box as this board (as great as it is) does not have motorized/flying faders, and only has 4 subgroups (buses), either 4 mono, or 2 stereo.  That is the one thing (mono buses) I found a bit disappointing.
   Other than that, I am very happy with the purchase and new set up so far.  Plus, once I buy a Firewire equipped laptop I can go track live shows too!  Now I just have to find and decide what laptop will do the job without breaking the bank.

What do you guys think?!    And.... Any pointers on a laptop that isn't going to break the bank account?

I worked for HP for a while, in 2002, and I have issues with their business practices, but one thing I had trouble even believing was their attention to quality control. I could have easily doubled or tripled my output but no, you wait for QA to sign off before you box the machines, and every last detail better be perfect.
 
I remember an entire shift, about 120 people, waiting off the clock on a Friday evening, for a pallet of laptops to get broken open so the one missing a 'Thanks For Buying HP' card that had been found and traced could be inserted.
 
No idea if they still do this, but they were absolutely FANATICAL about every item on a huge list being utterly perfect, thru four or more layers of QA checks, on every single computer that went out.
 
I have several HP PCs, and have worked on a lot of HP big iron, and my experience is that they run and last with the best of them, Dell, Sun, Compaqs, and are only a notch less bulletproof than the original IBM armored tanks.  
 
Your desk looks great, except for the blue and silver box in the middle, cramping the workspace, just ship that bad boy over here and you're good to go!

Thanks Jay Tee.  I got some new goodies for Christmas I shall be adding in to the mix here over the next day or so.  I will update the pics when done!

I'm still a noob who lacks the understanding of the need of a full-sized board. Is it just for preference over using an on-screen console? Can you actually then control parameters for volume, pan and stuff on the board?  Explain!

To answer your question the best I can bud, Yes for some they prefer to mix in the analog domain and have hands on faders & knobs.  It is a workflow preference and they like the analog summing of all the tracks....  In this case for me, the vast majority of all end stage mixing will still be done within the computer as opposed to the console for a few reasons:
1) as nice as this desk is, it still can't do automation as the faders are not motorized.  It would be nice but, until ya get about $1000 higher than this board you just don't get those features yet.
2) For similar reasons as above, it doesn't have a full instant recall (where you open a project from a week ago and everything snaps back to where you left that song project.  I can't do with out that yet.  I still, am rarely ever/never finished in one session.
 
For me I bought this board because:
1) it's a monster 24 channel interface that allows me to do hardware monitoring (no latency issues at all)
2) I can run up to 10 different headphone mixes
3) I can have my iPod plugged in to reference music through my monitors during mix sessions
4) It replaces nearly everything else in my studio...  I now run through it and out an am & PA speakers for band practice so my old board,Eq's, Gates, & compressors are being sold off.  I no longer need my other interfaces So I am selling a saffire pro 40, and the Behringer ADA800 I have connected to it... ( with these I had up to 16 channels before, I now have 24).  You interested??!  Let me know.
5) I can go mobile much easier to record off site or at live gigs much easier (while running sound for the gig itself too)
6) I can play those recordings back through the board and do quick mixes on it for live stuff.
7) Big complicated boards with lots of knobs, lights, and faders make musicians feel better about paying you to record them.  It may not sound any different than if you didn't have it but... they get all happy inside when they see it.   That, (by the way) is my other definition for the term "Psycho-Acoustic" LOL!
 
 

Looks good :-)
 
+100 to individual headphone mixes without latency!
 
Yet, you should buy a much bigger screen to go onto that wall ... just get a TV screen like I did (42"), works perfectly and are much cheaper than computer screens
 
And hook up a CD player for your reference mixes; I personally wouldn't iPod the references ;-)

True enough on the ipod issue,  when you get called out doing something kinda stupid.... ya just gotta admit it and laugh!