Hey everybody, I'd like to join the recording world, but I know next to nothing at about it. I'm a keyboard player and I recently purchased a Yamaha MOX8 for performance purposes, but I'd like to start recording with it as well. I currently own a Dell Inspirion 1545 with a 220 gig hard drive, a 2.1 ghz processor, and 4 gigs of ram. I've had it for 4 or 5 years now, and I keep it clean and organized, so it still runs pretty well. Every recording guy that I've spoken to about what sortware to use have all recommended sonar. should I reconfigure my labtop (which I do not know how to do), or invest in a new one? Like I said, I don't know anything about recording, and my knowledge of the inner workings of a computer isn't much better. I'd appreciate any advice that you guys can give me about this and recording in general. =) 

Welcome to the forum!
 
If that's a single core processor in your laptop it surely won't do. If it's a dual core, you can manage decently, if you have a little patience and don't use the heaviest VSTs around. Also, if the HDD is 5400 rpm instead of 7200 rpm, it might be a bit sluggish.

Thank you. =) well i know that it's dual core, but the HDD IS 5400 RPM... I can just buy a new hard drive with 7200 rpms though right? do you know what the ideal specs are for a labtop if I want replace parts or upgrade to a new one?

Ideal specs are: As powerful as your finances allow :o) It is also very recommendable to get a decent audio interface. The integrated soundchips are really not capable of fluent DAW work. The MOX8 has a USB interface, doesn't it?
If you have a 64 bit OS then 8 Gb of RAM  would be nice. A 32 bit system can't use more than 4 Gb.
 
AFAIK RAM and the HDD are about the only meaningfull parts you can upgrade in an average laptop, so there's not much more to do (?).