Clean Format With Laptop?

So in the next couple of days, I'm going to be recieving my first laptop. And I want to know what steps I would need to take to completely reformat it, set up partitions, install XP Pro and install whatever you think would be the best applications for everyday use. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I also have assumed that it is possible to somehow create a backup file (on DVD, my other computer has a DVD writer) that lets you automatically install all these basic features whenever you reformat the computer (I also have heard this is called a ghost). The big problem I have is that I do not have a floppy disk drive. which I can't help but think may make the process a bit more difficult.