prolly gonna get told but, for me, soundcard and interface are the same thing. I generally think of external with interface and internal with a soundcard but i think of the same operation with each term. M-audio makes both internal and external soundcards/interfaces. I like the idea of internal PCI based but if you need on the go, USB may work for you. Firewire workst pretty well in both situations. What m-audio card were you thinking of?