Hewlett Packard Hp Pavilion DV9088 Core 2 Duo T5600 2048MB 240GB Xph

Appeared to be the best config laptop for the given price. I expected the laptop to be amazingly fast but to my surprise it was performing at the same level(or below) as my previous one ( Centrino 1.66, ATI 9700 dedicated 64mb, 1.25gb ram, 4200rpm hdd). Now when I say it was performing at the same level as my previous one, I am talking about recording a dvd on the background, playing music and browsing all at the same time which I could do effortlessly with my previous laptop. With the hp 9088, the system appeared to be responding slowly(windows not opening instantaneously), while recording. The whole purpose of core 2 duo is this, if I'm not mistaken.
Splinter cell double agent frame rates were freezing. Had blue error screen twice while watching TV within a week, which I saw very rarely with my previous laptop over a period of one year.
I expected to play COD 2 at the highest settings but couldn't(low frame rates). On the whole the laptop frequently freezes and appears to be unstable. Whether all these problems are happening with only my laptop or is the configuration not reliably compatible, I do not know. I will try updating my video drivers with any new versions if available. Maybe that will solve most of the problems I am facing. The reason I upgraded to a new laptop was my previous one did not support shader model 3.0. I have seen similar problems with a desktop running windows MCE. Anybody else facing similar problems ? If yes, whether it is a good config laptop to go for?