Dec 18, 2004 10:21 am Welcome Genllee to HRC!
You can definately start with the laptop, and if you are careful with purchases be ready to move to a desk top at any time. And yes the first purchase will be a professional grade audio interface. They come in both standard I/O standards USB and Firewire. You may need to pick up a cardbus solution for firewire obviously for that option.
You can start simply by looking in the gear section here at HRC and the clicking on Musiciansfriend link and do a little shoping in the recording / computer / hardware section to get a feel for what is available.
There are also a ton of excelent sound quality software appoications for multitrack recording. Most do a good job with simple recording and playback. Just watch for compatability between your audio interface and software application. In fact most audio interfaces come with either one or a few "light" versions of multitrackers that will get you going. Two interfaces that are going at real good prices at the moment are the USB 428 by Tascam and a little Lexicon unit that looks pretty good. Both available for review at Musiciansfriend. Both of these units also have headphone jacks for monitoring I believe.
You can do a lot with your laptop, just watch the minimum specs on the software packages closely. If you get hooked on recording as many of us have (I started with a laptop as well) you may find it expensive and combersome to upgrade a laptop to configurations necessary to support some more advanced applications. I did. I still use a USB interface but on a desktop that is pretty much packed.
And yes a microphone is necessary although you may find it advantagious to directly plug in instruments with pick-ups. You'll get all that as you read and chat.
Welcome and good luck!