Rob, as pointed out earlier, don't ever use the sound card inputs of your laptop. They are very noisy and interference-prone.
You canget Firewire, PCMCIA, or USB boxes for your laptop. On this VASST tour, I demonstrate the noise input difference between a high end Blaster card and an Echo Layla. The noise differences are huge.
For stereo recording at high quality, check out the Echo Indigo IO.
24 bit/96k audio in a PCMCIA slot. 8 virtual outs, passes AC3 too. Wonderful card for sub 150.00