Asus N61J

I bought what i thought was my perfect laptop. Asus N61J, core i7 4gb RAM etc etc, I am a musician and i perform online into second life and many online open mic sites. Well, i had trouble recording a stereo source, and at the time thought it was an oversight in laptops in general. No matter how i searched, i only found mic in, and my line in was in mono. i needed to use a stereo usb connection from my mixer, and there was a short in my mixer's USB which almost killed the laptop. I suffered in silence sort of just figuring that this is what happens with laptops. Until i talked to a friend who had a dell and insisted that he gets stereo line in, and that it appears when he plugs in a jack .. it senses stereo vs mono mic. I verified this on my girlfriend's dell, plugged in a stereo mini plug, and it magically appears as a line in. Well i feel cheated if my asus indeed does not have a stereo line in. What a cheap oversight or worse what a cheap way to cut corners. The reason for this post is i am wondering if am i missing something or is it true there is no stereo line in for asus laptops. I wanted to hear if others have or dont have this problem too. If that is the case anyone who might want to record from an ipod or input a sound track for a movie, or use garage band stype stuff will NEVER get stereo??