I need to know if the soundcard with the new Apple powerbooks (those with line ins.....15/17" models with backlit keys) are substantial for half decent music production.......IF THE ANSWER TO THIS IS "No"......

Is there a good external USB soundcard out there that that supports line in and/OR midi (doesn't have to have midid capabilities...Roland/tascam jobbies....) that ALSO have a keyboard attached as one unit. Sort of having a Oxygen -8 with a 1/4" line in for ext mics etc and ext midi capabilities (In case i want to use me minimoog wth midi as a controller)

Don't know about Powerbook line-in quality, but notebooks are notorious for sacrificing built-in audio quality for space constraints.

For a USB audio card / keyboard combo, check out the M-Audio Ozone, it's basically the Oxygen with audio i/o and MIDI IN built into it. And there's also the Edirol PCR-A30 which is similar but with sliders and MIDI out. And there are a couple higher-priced models from other vendors (with more features).

(if I recall correctly)

How about Novation ReMote 25 Audio Extreme These have had great reviews from what I understand.

TD