They are all expenses, I believe. Your ink cartridges and business cards can be written off, as well as the software, but the laptop since it is more expensive should be depreciated - still written off, but a percentage each year over the expected life of the product. Usually five years for something like that. Bookkeeping is a huge pain, and takes up a lot of time that you can't bill clients for, so be prepared for that. I actually started outsourcing my back-office tasks to a company called MBO Partners, www.mbopartners.com
so that I could spend more of my time doing my actual consulting work. It's much easier, I have to say, and I can deduct all my expenses right away instead of having to wait til the end of the year. Worth checking out.

I kind of look at it as comparing consumables versus non-consumables. Laptop would definitely be an asset, the cartridges and business cards would definitely be expenses. The hardware and software would probably technically be assets, but you are probably safe expensing anything under $500.

And as far as the laptop, on your taxes you have the option of depreciating it, or small business owners can also expense items under $125,000 in the same year it is purchased.

And if bookkeeping & taxes are not your forte and/or your pleasure, even if you don't hire an outside bookeeper, I probably would recommend getting a tax advisor who can help advise you how to best account for things to save money on your taxes and/or prevent any penalities (whether you are audited or not).

(As a claimer/disclaimer, I do some bookkeeping work, but am not a tax advisor/CPA).