Hi, Basil.
Don't know if you've resolved your recording input situation as yet, but if using Win XP (with SP2), this little devil may be the answer to your prayers:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOFTRACKPROJust following on from what CD's saying, your current microphone isn't the correct impedance for your laptops microphone input - so you'll get no "level". In fact, your current microphone will never be heard at its best going through the laptops audio circuitry, unfortunately.
Without being overly ambitious with your recording requiements (i.e., doing complicated mixdowns that need a powerful platform), then the above unit will serve you well - and you'll be able to take it to other PC's and laptops if need be. If it's within your price range, then great. For more serious recording, at some point, a proper music-grade interface is needed. However, if it's just the basic ideas that you need to capture, then having a microphone of the correct impedance should let you use the audio controls in windows and get a reasonable recording level - but you won't get great sound quality.
Hope this helped a bit
