1.how do the gain knobs within cubase`s mixer work?, can i use them to bring up the voulme of the track, or will it make it peak to much?.

the thing that confused me about having a higher volume was that when i recorded on my digital multitrack, and transfered the tracks to cubase/ they were the same voulume of a commercial song/track. maybe I had the gain set to high and because it was only acoustic it would be hard to notice?

2. will laptops at £350-450 be able to run Cubase sx3 and Cubase 4?

cheers 8)