I would certainly check the list.
http://www.mtu.com/upgrades/hoster/v...de-hoster4.htm
Actually this was not a "small" upgrade. There were a lot of things fixed. The small about it might be that there is very little visual change and new features.
When was the last time you checked for "Custom" updates from Microsoft? If it has been a while I would check to make sure they were done. Hardware updates from them are not recommended though.
There are several things that will cause sync problems.
Laptops use "shared" memory and if the laptop doesn't have enough RAM then this can cause problems. Vista is a real memory hog, so it is recommended you have about 2MB. One thing you can do is use this site's checklist for Vista to turn off unecessary processes.
http://www.blackviper.com/
Another possible cause is heat though in your case I would say this isn't it. Laptops have one small fan to draw heat out of the system. When this fan gets dirty it does not function as well as when it is clean. If this still isn't enough there are cooling pads with fans that can help boost the cooling.