I use ASIO drivers on my studio workstation at home which gives me a low 8ms latency. I use my laptop for when I am mobile, and you are correct that the laptop's lower-quality soundcard results in much higher latency, though fortunately that does not result in lower sound quality for me... no pops or noises and the sound quality is quite good actually using Microsoft DX drivers. I've even played back Reason files on my laptop through my car stereo with great results. Reason files are very portable so I can construct ideas on the laptop that I can transfer to my studio workstation for fine tuning and mastering.