Toshiba Tecra Windows Vista Audio Problems

I've been using a Toshiba Tecra A9 laptop pre-installed with Windows Vista for some time now. What frustrates me most about this piece of expensive junk is its ongoing issues with audio.

The onboard Realtek soundcard has not had a driver update since 2007 and the thing literally does not work.

Among the problems I thought I'd briefly share:

• Volume Control on taskbar is unresponsive and sometimes disappears altogether
  
• No audio with many WAV files on Windows Media Player (these open in other apps such as iTunes however)
• The Function Escape mute button does not work at all. Similarly the keyboard volume controls.
  
• Impossible to turn the built-in speakers off (yes, believe it or not) - even with headset in and disabling the speaker device through the control panel - they just keep on playing
• Unable to get the audio drivers to work with capture devices and multimedia editing applications like Windows Movie Maker
  
• Audio applications are terribly slow to respond and consistently crash for no reason

Anyway it appears I am neither alone or likely to get a solution any time soon.

The experience has turned me off Toshiba altogether but made me hate Windows Vista to such an extent that I'm (wait for it) considering purchasing an Apple Mac.