Hello, I am a new and glad member of this community.  I've only experimented with beginner software such as Kinetic and Music Creator but I am looking into picking up Sonar x1 or x2 Producer. I just purchased a new laptop a couple of weeks ago and I am wondering if it will be suitable to run Sonar. 
Below are my computer's specs: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (3M Cache, up to 3.1 GHz) Windows 7, 64-bit, English 15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with Truelife 8GB3 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz 1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive 8X Tray Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive) Intel® HD Graphics 4000



Any input or advice will greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The machine is fine except for the hard drive. Most would recommend a 7000 RPM drive in place of the 5400 RPM.

And you'll need a decent interface - don't rely on the built in chip for this

you may find that you need an external monitor with higher resolution.  You need more vertical space on the screen than most laptops provide.

Thanks for the respones! I read somewhere else about using an external hard drive...does this mean installing and running the program from an external hd? Any other benifits from doing this?

I also thought of using my 46" sharp lcd as a monitor (will use dvi to dvi cable) good idea or bad idea?

No, you don't usually run the program from an external drive. You use it/them for project audio and sample libraries. 

Any monitor will do as long as it (and the video adapter) can be set to at least 1280x800. A second hard is a good idea so that the audio project does not have to compete with anything for disk access.