I'll weigh in again with what I say every time and wait for the critics to pounce on it.

Buy a DESKTOP to record on. Do your tracking, recording, editing, mixing, etc... on a DESKTOP. Do your playback on the laptop when you take it out to gig (if you do that). That's why god invented thumb drives. To move your files from your production computer to your convenience computer. Laptops are made with light duty parts to keep them light. They are a great convenience but they are not as durable as desktops.

Remember that it doesn't take much horsepower to play back. It is ONE program executing and reading ONE data file. Similar in concept to people who think servers must have the fastest processor in the known universe. 180 degrees wrong. Servers can run on lower end hardware. They do no computing. They just serve files to clients like your server at lunch delivers your food. (Thus called client/server relationship. Client asks, server delivers. Done.)

Everybody has their story about how their off-brand laptop is just as good as a name brand, how it was run over by a tank, fell 40,000 feet from a plane and landed in salt water, was rescued from a fire and it still works fine..... and most of the time, they have that particular laptop for no other reason than it was what the store had when they went to buy a laptop. The problem is that everybody's idea of "works fine" is different depending on knowledge of a computer and amount of experience. Budget is a concern, of course, and if you skimp at all your laptop won't measure up.

Just as one of those "This is how I did it" FYI comments, when I still did live work that used sequenced stuff, I took a desktop with me to gigs. For the 6:12 seconds longer it took to set it up..... I can't stand that "I will sacrifice the sound because I want to move less gear and tear down fast to get the hell out of there as fast as possible when I finish" mentality.

And get me started on cheap bands who won't hire horns but want to do Earth, Wind and Fire music..... "Oh we'll just leave the horns out!" Of EF&F music??? LOL!!

Bottom line is that if this was me, I would format that laptop clean, load it back up with an OS and BIAB ONLY, and buy a new desktop to work your music magic on.