Should be able to run them just fine - the card I don't know much about, but Kazrog should be able to clear that up - worst case scenario, you spend a bit more or you get an external interface - and for Apple there may be some things not identical but you should be able to run Cubase, although most would say that if you're going Mac you'd enjoy Logic more. I'd say if you're going to get either Mac or PC, at least take the time to try Linux (I'd recommend Ubuntu for a laptop) and one of its best DAWs, Ardour, as (1) it's bloody free and (2) so are plugins for it (take that, Waves and your six gazillion dollar plugins!), so even if you don't like it or learn to work with it all you've spent is a bit of time and you can just wipe off Linux and go back to your factory OS without much hassle.
As far as hard drive stuff goes, it had better be bloody fast, or you may run into latency problems (as USB isn't the fastest way to go - Firewire would probably be fine, and USB shouldn't cause problems, but straight into a real slot would be fastest).
Finally, [rant=Micro$oft] DON'T BEND OVER FOR VISTA! That fucker takes more space than all three operating systems running on my laptops (two Linux distros and XP Pro), copied code that's been around for years for free for their goddamn shiny flashy things and their see-thru shit that's about as stable as a Weeble in a bombing raid, and won't do a fucking thing to benefit actual operation. Buy it before they stop offering XP or you will regret it until that laptop commits circuit suicide over such an atrocity. [/rant]
Jeff
