Newbie to CNC

[EddyCurrent]

The laptop would be okay as long as you went with a USB breakout board, the other options are ethernet but the one that most people currently use is parallel port which I guess your laptop will not have. The best way I found is to read through as many of the Build Logs you can that seem relevant to your own requirements, and no problem with the electrical questions or any other come to think of it, the grand chaps on here know everything you will need.

[JAZZCNC]

The laptop would be okay as long as you went with a USB breakout board,

Careful here because that's not strictly true You need to define USB breakout board.? Or point him to exact component you referring too because Some breakout boards use USB to power them but they still use the Parallel port and this could be misleading to someone new.!

What's needed is a motion control card or board, these can be connected in various ways depending on boards USB and ETHERNET are the main ways.