I have a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop and I just installed my ancient Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 on it, and now I realize that my sound card in my laptop is pretty much worthless with this program.  For example, I like to program my drums in the piano roll view, then record it to a track as an audio file - I cant do this with my current sound card. 
 
Can anyone recommend a simple sound card for my laptop? 

The BEST route is an audio interface with ASIO.

But, if you have a PCMCIA Slot you can get several different sound card options

here are some of the available ones...

https://www.google.com/search?q=pcmcia+sound+card&oq=PCMCIA+Sound&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6419j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

fafa1234
I have a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop and I just installed my ancient Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 on it, and now I realize that my sound card in my laptop is pretty much worthless with this program.  For example, I like to program my drums in the piano roll view, then record it to a track as an audio file - I cant do this with my current sound card. 
 
Can anyone recommend a simple sound card for my laptop? 

Hmmm...I don't remember how it was in Pro Audio, but are you sure you can't bounce to audio via the Tools> Mixdown Audio etc? Your soundcard shouldn't be an obstacle, IIRC, as bouncing is not actually the same as recording.

OK I've been doing a lot of research on this, and i'm thinking all I need to do is download the latest drivers for my current sound card.  Apparently my laptop has an internal mic (which is what I believe I need to convert MIDI tracks into WAV tracks, correct?) and I should try downloading the latest drivers.
 
This is my biggest problem right now, converting MIDI tracks (drums and bass tracks) into wav files.
 
Does this sound like it may be the solution to my problems?  I'm going to run home during lunch (i'm at work) to grab my laptop and give it a try.  This is quite frustrating!

Kalle Rantaaho
Hmmm...I don't remember how it was in Pro Audio, but are you sure you can't bounce to audio via the Tools> Mixdown Audio etc? Your soundcard shouldn't be an obstacle, IIRC, as bouncing is not actually the same as recording.

When I go to Tools>Mixdown Audio, the two options, Export To Files and Bounce To Tracks, are grayed out - I cant click on them.
 
I assumed this was a sound card issue, now i'm not so sure.

Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio.  Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
 
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work.  Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's.  For recording music or high fidelity, not so much.  Low quality and high latency.  As Clary sez, get a real music interface.  They are available from $100 on up and most use USB.  You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
 
@

Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio.  Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
 
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work.  Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's.  For recording music or high fidelity, not so much.  Low quality and high latency.  As Clary sez, get a real music interface.  They are available from $100 on up and most use USB.  You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
 
@

OK so I have pro audio 9 installed on my work computer and I'm experimenting with getting it to work.  Apparently in audio 9, I have to record a wav track(s) of the MIDI track(s) before I can mixdown the audio.  I'm trying to get this to work now.

AT
Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio.  Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
 
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work.  Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's.  For recording music or high fidelity, not so much.  Low quality and high latency.  As Clary sez, get a real music interface.  They are available from $100 on up and most use USB.  You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
 
@

I'm attempting to do that now (and failing).  I'm having trouble selecting the right "source" and "port" options on the track I'm trying to record the MIDI to.
 
Here are images of my options for source and port...

 

First of all, Pro Audio does not have Freeze function, so let's not confuse the OP with that word.
 
You already mentioned the proper tool: Bounce to tracks. I think it was greyed out because you had no tracks selected. And you need to select both soft synth MIDI-track and the respective audio track.
UNLESS...
There's one open question though: What soft synth are you using (can you use soft synths in PA9?) ? If you're using the miserable MS Wavetable synth of your soundchip, that can not be bounced like soft synths. That must be recorded either by physically leading the signal from soundcards output and then back to input, or recorded in real time with your soundcards "what u hear" setting, if such exists. If neither of those are possible, you're out of luck.
 
You are working in a surrounding so ancient, that it's hard for you to get good advice anymore :o/ In any SONAR version, new or old, you'd be able to do this in ten seconds, assuming you DON'T use MS Wavetable synth.
 
I strongly recommend upgrading to something like Music Creator or any of the X-series.