It occurs to me that I could probably get more audio editing done if I worked with a laptop, rather than being anchored to a desktop. I've been using an hp media center pc which I assume has a decent sound card or whatever they call it now, pulling in stuff from tape, record, etc. I'd like to start working with some simple microphone input and sound layering software in the future.

I am so ignorant about modern laptops. Are there any in the cheap category that can support adequate sound recording? Is there any way to re-purpose an old windows 98 laptop for such work?