I only took a quick glance at all that but two things that immediately come to mind...
 
You could swap out the HDD for a 7200 or 10,000RPM rather easily (there are plenty of tuts on youtube and I'm sure Newegg has some tuts and recommendations as well).
 
You could use the USB3 port to run a second drive externally but again get something that spins at higher speeds.
 
The lack of a graphic card is a bit of a drag but your CPU should be powerful enough and if I'm not mistaken all the "i" series have some fancy graphics processing doohickeys in them (mine does).
 
Focusrite is a good company. I have an 18i6 and it's great. Roland stuff if good too but their sluggish driver release worries me but I think they are up to date at the moment.
 
If you want to learn more about suitable systems for Sonar read this link and if you are looking to buy a new laptop dedicated to audio and have the cash take a particularly close look at the ADK Systems link...
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/default.aspx
 
Welcome to the forum. Good luck and ask us anything. Good bunch these dudes and/or dudettes are.

Should have read the thread. Seems you have been guided toward Jim. You're in good hands now.
 
Oh but being in Canada myself I opted to build my own system (desktop) because the taxes and shipping would have destroyed me. Also saved a few hundred bucks above and beyond that by sourcing my own parts and avoiding the service charges (which are reasonable but I'm cheap/broke). I do not have any support though so when something goes wrong I have to pester these guys. I've had pretty good luck so far though.
 

Chumer
I would very much like this thread to stay focused on the seven questions presented. 

1) It depends
2) It depends
etc.
 
The hardware you have will work just fine up to a point.  And then it won't work if you want to do more tracks, more complex VSTs, more things on the screen at the same time, etc.  You are asking for definitive answers to questions which are all very subjective.  There is nothing on your list that would prevent X2 from working up to a point.
 
If you are wiling to freeze or bounce a lot, you can do some fairly complex projects on that notebook as is.  Personally I would struggle with the limited display, but X2 gives you ways to make the limited display pretty efficient.
 

Thank you mudgel, Beepster and cparmerlee for your latest responses.  This essentially leaves me with only a few more queries and I will have the enough knowledge to define the Grand Unified Theory that's evaded the finest minds on the planet for decades.
 
Notes:
a) I  did not buy the ASUS lappy for music purposes primarily, so I'm perfectly OK with not using it as a DAW.  I was mostly interested in understanding how far I might push it, and y'all have answered that rather well. I thank you indeed!
 
Questions:
1) Are there any consequential benefits to using a dual-head video card instead of single-head video card?
 
2) If using a desktop with a dual-head video card and dual 24" LCD monitors would the need for Windows Extended Desktop Mode be negated or still be as relevant?
 
3) Are most desktop people who are running dual monitors using a dual-head video card or a single-head video card with the second monitor connected to the Mobo's onboard video out?  Why?
 
4) I have not located any laptops with dual-head video cards, why would that be?
 
5) If I used Windows Extended Desktop Mode with a laptop, how would the combination of the 15" (or 17" for that matter) laptop monitor with a single 24" LCD monitor fare in comparison to using a desktop with a single head video card and dual 24" LCD monitors?
 
6) If I used Windows Extended Desktop Mode with a laptop, how would the combination of the 15" (or 17" for that matter) laptop monitor with a single 24" LCD monitor fare in comparison to using a desktop with a dual-head video card and dual 24" LCD monitors?
 
7) And the eternal question, Win 7 or Win 8 for Sonar Producer X2/X3?  Why?
 
Much obliged, Chumer.

I only use one monitor so I can't help you with that (although I do have a vid card with multiple outputs... well there are multiple physical outputs anyway so I think it supports that). I will say that with a nice sized monitor Sonar is pretty slick to to use on just one screen though. The screenset feature and all the easily popped up/hidden elements (via hotkeys) is more than enough I think to keep you motoring through your project. Maybe hold off on the dual monitor action until you see what it's like. Using a laptop screen might be a little whack though so at least one separate monitor would probably be a good idea.
 
As far as 7 vs. 8... well I don't own X3 nor Windows 8 but it seems Cake has really been pushing the Win8/touchscreen gack lately so I'm assuming the coding might be a little more geared towards 8. That is merely speculation though.
 
Also if you get 8 and do decide to get into all the dual monitors wackiness you'll have access to all the touchscreen features (if you purchase a touchscreen monitor). That way you could have your main monitor with an overview of the project and use the second angled flat on your desk to use as a virtual mixing console or to manipulate pretty much most any of the different views in Sonar (there are some vids in the Cakewalk University section of this site showing this type of work). Personally I have no interest in that style of working but you sound like you may be into that.
 
Cheers.

Thank you kindly Beepster,
 
One 27" monitor (or bigger perhaps?) might be interesting in combination with a smaller touchscreen monitor, if it's confirmed that Cakewalk is fully supporting touchscreens right now and it's not simply "look what we may do going forward".  Is Cakewalk fully supporting touchscreen techno right now via Win 8?  Do we know for sure?

Nope... touchscreen is in full effect as of X2a. You will still need a keyboard and mouse for certain things but AFAIK editing, parameter control and other functions where touch makes sense are all working.  How WELL it works? Well IDK because I don't use it but I haven't seen any complaints about it on here. Like I said take a look at some of the newer Cakewalk University links for vids showing it off and I think there are some blog posts too.
 
Here's a link that'll get you to a bunch of vids...
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/
 
And here's the Blog...
 
http://blog.cakewalk.com/
 
Lots of interesting topics to dig through in both those links. I've got a ton of external links bookmarked I can link as well but that should give you a good idea of how Cake envisions their product. Keep in mind there is a lot of stuff involving older versions but many times it is still applicable in the current versions. Cheers.

Well thank you Beepster, this is very interesting indeed!

No problem. One of the nice things about Sonar is the plethora of free learning resources floating around as well as modestly priced books and vids. Cheers.

Just one point about the "dual head" video card, because it seems to keep propping up. Dual head as it seems relevant to this thread is not actually dual GPU but just the capability to run two monitors with independent display - in other words, Windows extended desktop. In that sense, your laptop is already dual head because you can drive one external monitor (24"? 30"?) from it PLUS your laptop display. While you don't get exactly the same benefits as getting two identical high resolution monitors on a desktop, this will still increase your screen real estate by a significant amount and would make your current setup very workable, at least in that aspect.

For the rest, as cparmerlee also said, it all depends. I think your system may be capable enough for your needs. Of course you can run into limits (mainly HD speed) but a 3rd gen i7 (even a mobile one) and 8GB of RAM is really quite good. Upgrading your laptop with a new internal HD is kind of a hassle with reinstalling the OS and everything, but even if you're not against getting a new system, why not start by getting that soundcard and a nice big monitor and get to work? Installing Sonar itself won't take that long and you can easily move all your projects (and use the monitor and soundcard) if you do need a bigger/better system.