Well, it’s a Toshiba Tecra M4: Intel 2 GHz CPU, 1 GB ram, 128 MB nVidia GEFORCE.
This problem happens even when there is no project open. I just wiggle the mouse a bit and AE goes to 100% cpu usage! In other words, it’s not like AE is running out of memory or cpu power.
I have no problems running Photoshop.