I use an HP laptop (XP Home SP2, 1GB+ RAM, Centrino, no hardware OpenGL) and (like penguinisto reported) version 1.8 of D|S worked OK - subsequent versions have failed in some way and this was basic stuff in loading content, nothing to do with rendering.

I could go back to the earlier version but I'm in agreement with mariner, you just don't know what's not going to work - and if it's reported and going to be fixed.  Perhaps when it gets to version 5/6/7, like Poser, it'll be a tool worth using.