What size is the laptop screen? If it's just the normal 14-15" then 1024x768 is perfect. If for some reason that's not good enough, another good reso is 1280x1024, that's what I use on my desktop.
In WoW if you turn down... or off... your AA (Anti Aliasing) and AS (Anisoptric) you will see a huge difference. Like he said above, they basically smooth of the pixels on the edges of models or sprites to make it a little more fluid, but takes alot of video card speed away. Also, like they suggested, turn off any programs running in the background that you don't need.
