New Studio Setup (What should I get?)

A couple of important ones 

If you get a firewire interface then listen to it first and then take it with you if buying a laptop. Newwer laptops have somewhat cheaper fw components in general and not all have the TI fw chips. Having TI chips is a good start but not bullet proof in compatability. Then test the interface up to lots of tracks before you buy (or commit to a computer). Another thing is that there is a danger of having some good components and some miserable ones (usually in the computer or eg bad monitors or base resonant room) that then create a bottle neck. This is really bad as you then never get to experience the full quality of what you have paid for. It may be time to ask the Reaparians to post their full setups and what they are happy about and what the shortcomings of their systems are.