Laptop Audio Workstation

[dstryrwiz]

I'm looking into getting a laptop for doing tracking on the go, possibly even to track performances live with up to 16 simultaneous tracks recording with maybe some effects on some of those tracks going as outputs into the PA system for the performance. I wished to know where would be the best place to purchase a laptop that would be able to handle this, and what kind of specs can you all suggest. I wish to try and keep this as affordable as possible while still not risking having the system drop out on me in the middle of recording a performance. I was looking into getting a laptop with a Sandy Bridge i7 quad core in it, but I don't even know where I can have that built with the proper firewire port involved, or if that even would be an advisable route. I thank you all in advance for any recommendations.