Need advice on PreSonus Firepod with this Toshiba Laptop

Hi all,
A buddy of mine has just upgraded to Sonar Studio 8.5 and also bought this Toshiba Satellite A665-S6050: Toshiba laptop. I'm hoping you guys can give some tips/advice on tweaking his system.
 
He did a clean install with only Windows 7 (64bit) and Sonar.
He's using the Presonus Firepod (FP10) and the M-Audio 2x2 midi (USB) interface.
 
Basically, he'll be mostly recording audio and needs this system to work as smooth as possible. 
Would he need to buy a soundcard (it comes with the standard Realtek soundcard)? If yes, what are some inexpensive ones (USB)?
What are somethings he could do to "fine tune" his DAW to make it run smoothly with the equipment he's got?
Any other info you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks