I have enjoyed the TOW series since the start. However, it seems as you say they appear to be working on the next one then helping with the bugs for the current game. It would be great for the development team to work on the code. I have a laptop also and have played all the total war on this laptop and it runs smoothly. The TOW3 can lag and hang up. I can even play supreme commander 2 on the laptop without a hitch.
I also think for expansion for them to include operation killer, the punch bowl, and lets not forget the frozen chosin. Even the "outpost war" would be an interesting expansion.
I have read the "bug" report. As I am not a programmer I am unsure of how hard it would be to fix some if not all the problems. As one person put it the game would be a "classic game" without most of the bugs.
Matthew
p.s. have been playing computer games since the 1990's Sudden strike, command and conquer (the original) and dawn of war are all great and classic games. I believe the TOW series can be better then all of them combined.