Should I be able to run SC2 properly?

So I went out today and pre-ordered my copy of SC2 and got my beta key. Everything downloaded no problem and I began to play. No later than ten minutes of every game I attempted to play, the game would start to slow down on my and eventually stop completely. It runs fine at the start, and then as things start picking up in the game, it starts to run slower and slower.

I'm running the game on a Dell studio XPS 16, and here are some of the specs.

OPERATING SYSTEM:WINDOWS 2.6.1.7600 ()CPU TYPE:INTEL(R) CORE(TM)2 DUO CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHZCPU SPEED (GHZ):2.554SYSTEM MEMORY (GB):3.966GRAPHICS CARD MODEL:ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 4670GRAPHICS CARD DRIVER:ATIUMDAG.DLLDESKTOP RESOLUTION:1600X900HARD DISK SIZE (GB):451.074HARD DISK FREE SPACE (GB):395.526

I don't play many computer games but I can run LOTRBFME2 and Dragon age origins and WoW with absolutely no problems. So I ask you, is it just because my computer does not have the proper specs to run this great game, or is it just something else that can be easily addressed?

Thank you.

 

I run it on low everything on a pentium 4 ht, with 128mb gofx video card, and 2 gigs of RAM. Seven year old laptop. lags a little sometimes, lags alot when their is over 400 units on screen, but its very playable in the 1v1 and 2v2 circuit. Fraid I'll have to opt out of the 3v3s and 4v4s until i u[grade. Anyways your comp is way better than mine so just lower the settings, and mos timportantly, lower the resolution, that eats up a lot of processing power.

 

Hey thanks a lot man, I'll get right on that and see if it helps.

 

Well, it's pretty sad. Even on the lowest settings I can still only play one versus one, and it tends to get real laggy as more units begin to arise. Now I'm not really any computer whiz or anything, but based on the specs I have listed, can anyone tell me what I can do to improve my game play? I really just want to stop the lag/the slowness of the game. As I've stated, the more things going on, the slower the game goes, and eventually, crashes. Any information would be nice. Thanks guys/girls!

 

Update drivers.
Close down high CPU and RAM processes (antivirus, music, browsers).
Possibly sounds as if one of your components, namely vid card is cooked.

 

Cooked? Well I don't know much about computers, but this computer is less than a half a year old lol.

 

Cooked=Victim of a powersurge, blowing some vital components in your card.