currently have the HVR A1u..love it! would like to buy a laptop to go directly to a hard drive (deposition work)and it seems that firewire is on its way out and HDMI is on its way in..is there a cable that sony makes that allows you to go to the component out of the HVR A1U to and HDMI plug on a laptop..if there isnt, any suggestions of the cheapest laptop or notbook that has firewire? Also willing to put in a PCI express card as well.
Thanks!

The short answer is No.

The slightly longer explanation is component is an analog HD transmission path whereas HDMI is a digital HD transmission path. Going from analog to digital is going to take more than just a cable - it's going to take a converter box of some sort.

A fair number of laptops still have firewire. A quick perusal of either Dell or HP will turn up a selection. There are also a number of Firewire Expresscard adapters for adding it to a notebook that doesn't have firewire but does have an ExpressCard slot. A quick search of Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! (http://www.newegg.com) will turn up several options.

thanks..was afraid of that..laptop is probably the way to go