I'm not the most computer savy -- I largely went with the one that owners seemed to like the best and that got pretty high reviews from PC World and CNET. It seemed the big downside was that the laptop isn't too fast and it's not great for games -- I don't play games on it anyway -- and I'm not in a big hurry.

It has 3 USB 2.0 slots

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...00245293&lc=en

For those interested in the external DAC/Headphone amp I found one that may be better -- still researching but it's called the Bithead from headroom - a bit more money but more portable http://www.headphone.com/products/he...head-clear.php and can run off of batteries.