Like everyone else here I have to agree that buying some memory modules would help. I have a laptop with the same type of processor as yourself although I don't use it as my main drawing tool it is useful tool to show to clients and to work on small jobs if I am doing something else. Running Illustrator on a faster laptop might make the splash screen hardly be seen and the load period be much quicker your actual drawing experience will hardly change and also the time it takes to save a large file will be quicker.

I would find it hard to recommend any laptop as a main tool to use on the Creative Suite if you are working on large files unless you are willing to splash out mega bucks and that it always seems to me a waste of money just for the convenience of a portable desktop and even then it will be a compromise.