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This is representative of what I and others at PLA have used to facilitate W2K8 on our laptops.  One of the prominent features in doing so is to facilitate the Hyper-V virtualization.

This is a Read Me First Document!

Running Windows W2K8 Server as a workstation from Ohad's weblog.

http://weblogs.asp.net/israelio/archive/2008/02/21/windows-server-2008-as-workstation.aspx

Pick and choose what you need out of this list. Most of us don't need Skype or the ASP.NET Development server.

As per Ohad's weblog, one of the early steps in establishing machine functionality is to reload the pertinent device drivers.

Dell Drivers

At the time of this writing I had a D820 so your driver list may vary:

This is all it took to get my machine going.  Be sure to see the Toshiba BT link below.

Other Helpful URLs:

Running Windows Live on W2K8

This replaces step 11 in Ohad's blog:

http://daniellarson.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!D3543C5837291E93!1833.entry

The Tosbiba BT stack (a must have for your BT)

http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/bluetooth/index.php?page=download

Select the 6.10.10  Windows XP x64 / Windows Vista x64 drive for download out of the very long list (it's near the top)

If you don't have 4 GB RAM you can purchase a 4 GB kit from Crucial.com.  My RAM kit cost only $99.00.

http://www.crucial.com

If you wish to run the Hyper-V feature:

Ensure that you have hardware-assisted virtualization and No-Execute Bit enabled in your BIOS prior to installation of the Hyper-V server role.

Hyper-V Wireless Card support (if you can get to this URL)

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/01/09/using-hyper-v-with-a-wireless-network-adapter.aspx

Tells you how to use you wireless card for the VMs

New Admin Pack for Vista and W2K8 Server

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9FF6E897-23CE-4A36-B7FC-D52065DE9960&displaylang=en

Note that in W2K8, if you load a server role or feature, the associated System Tools are automatically loaded with it.

Do not attempt to utilize any pre-W2K8 System Tools on your new server build.

If you wish to run the Sidebar:

1. Copy the Windows Sidebar folder from c:\Program Files on a Vista x64 SP1 installation to your Win2k8 install.
2. From an administrator console run:
   regsvr32 sbdrop.dll
   regsvr32 wlsrvc.dll
3. From that same console run:
   sidebar /RegServer
4. Move the Sidebar registry information from a working Vista SP1 x64 install.  You can find it at HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/SideBar.
5. Run sidebar!

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Compatibility]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings]
"SidebarDockedPartsOrder"="0x1,0x2,0x3,0x4"

In your system backup prior to the wipe and dipe sequence, copy your current system profile to a USB HDD or other suitable storage device.  There are several things that you'll need out of there, like Favorites and .NK2 files for Outlook.

If you're upgrading from XP, here are a couple of good sites explaining where all of the profile folders went to:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2076/vista_add_to_sendto_menu

A larger list of Folder locations for Vista / W2K8

http://wiki.helpware.net/tiki-index.php?page=VistaCSIDL

This laundry list may not be complete for everyone's needs but it'll get your system up and running in very short order.

Happy travels with your new build of Windows Server 2008!