Gerry,
It is most certainly going to be the laptop. RB has never been a problem on my desktop PC but until I did the disable of power saving on the laptop it would not work for long. I now have it on my Toshiba Satelite Pro 100 and it runs all day without a problem, albeit on mains rather than battery. I am sure that when mobile the power savers would be more active, if enabled, and could be causing the problems Wayne outlined.
Mike