With the new computer and the accessories on its way, I found it interesting just how much extra gear I had to get, above and beyond the computer, in order to bring it up to parity with the desktop (to be a proper desktop replacement) and to also simultaneously be useful as my mobile device. Here's a list:

- Carrying case. (Didn't have to buy, I already have a couple of those.)
- USB keyboard. (I happened to have an extra that I wasn't using. I don't like it as much as the existing PS/2 keyboard I was using, but I won't have a PS/2 port on the new system.)
- Second power supply, so I can leave the one docked at the desk, and the other one in the carrying case.
- Dual monitor docking station, so that I can display on my dual monitors and also dock with other USB devices with a minimum of cable fuss.
- Extra HDMI-to-DVI adapter cable because the docking station strangely has one DVI output and one HDMI output.
- External DVD drive, since laptops don't come with those any more.
- External USB3 hard drive enclosure, because my current system of having a bare SATA backup drive sitting outside the case, tethered by SATA and power cables directly to the motherboard, won't fly any more.
- The aforementioned USB studio recording interface because no one puts firewire on laptops any more.
- An FTDI-chipset RS-232 serial converter, because this is the first time I'll be without a serial port, and getting to my empeg's serial port is still just as important to me as always.

Interesting note about that serial port: I deliberately went out of my way to find one with the FTDI chipset, because the new computer is Windows 8, and the more commonly-found Prolific Chipset adapters have an interesting problem: If you get an older XA/HXA chipset version of the Prolific adapter (again, the most common thing out there still), its drivers won't work on Windows 8. I only know this because of my job at work. Anywhere online where you might buy a USB-to-serial adapter, it rarely says the chipset at all, let alone the sub-version of the chipset.

Anyway, all tolled, it ends up being about 700 bucks or so of extra gear, in addition to the laptop itself. I found that amusing. I'll recoup some of that when I ebay the old Firewire audio interface, but still.