Connecting quality monitor to my laptop

[lauren]

I have an Acer TravelMate 290 laptop. I am an amateur photographer aspiring to improve and was told to get an external Apple monitor, Lacie monitor or an Eizo monitor, color calibrate it, and connect it to my laptop in order to accurately edit my photos in Photoshop. Will my laptop be able to accurately support such a monitor (ie. resolution and color wise, even if calibrated)? If so, does anyone recommend a particular monitor model of one of these brands? Monitor size is not as important as the picture quality. Anything else I should know? Thanks.