Gday:
i got a Vista laptop reasently

it's got 2.17gig ram, no video card, 140gig hard drive,

It can barly run Vue and crashes all the time and you can barly use, it i mean barly you try to go to "File" or atmosphire eaditor or anything and it'll crash.

"no i have no virus or trogens on my lappy.

WTF is going on here?

my desctop had 3gig of ram and is fast as shit, but my laptop is Carp, 1 gig can't make that big a diffrance.

1. Probably bloated up with crappy useless software, like the manufacturers advertising, espcially SH*T like Norton, ugh!!! Most laptops coe fitted with a load of rubbish programs that just slow your system down.

If that is the case, I'd recommend IF you know what yer doing, uninstalling all that stuff they add in, you only want Widows and the apps you NEED on a laptop, like video drivers/apps, nothing else. 

1. The video card is probably the othe rmain cause, remember, Vue uses "OPEN GL" display, which needs a decent video card ot get the best out of it
   what to do is turn all your view ports towireframe and turn off textures in your Display options

Also, turn the maximum number of undo's down to 1.

1. Could be the CPU is overheating, a major problem with laptops and another reaosn I avoid them

I include a pic to try and suggest the best settings for you :)

 I remember reading on e-on's website somewhere that (7 Infinite) requires a seperate graphics card (for Macs?), i.e. not the integrated graphics sharing main memory as is found on many laptops. I hope this is not the case for you as it would seem to imply that you need to change hardware!

Good luck