It should work great. Laptop audio interfaces won't sound as nice as professional gear, but they'll get the job done, especially if you're not depending on its input, which can be noisy, and especially if you're playing live. Your headphone jack might actually be a little too hot, but if you turn down it should play nice. Adjusting the volume knob while playing might well be very noisy though. Best to set it and make any further volume adjustments in real time.
If you're just looking to play back beats
Hydrogen might be a good place to start. It's very easy to use. I don't know how well it works on Windows, which I assume you're running but there's no reason not to try.
EDIT: You'll probably want to run it through at least an EQ before amplifying though. Your PA (which I assume you'll be using) might be able to accomplish that.
As for effects, I've used my laptop to apply effects to my bass and been pleased with the result. The software I used tended to crash, which gives me second thoughts about putting it into action, but the sound was nothing I'd be ashamed to perform with. A slightly less noisy interface would be a choice upgrade, but my results with onboard sound weren't unworkable. You do need to have a full-duplex (meaning it can play and record concurrently) sound card to apply live effects.
