Hi Mark!
Thanks for the awesome information. I know I have GPU on my laptop, as I have the GPU: AMD APP enabled on my Xili for conversions. It does not however show it in my Vegas drop down, which is OK, and just showed as off. I finally gave up, after trying the trial version of 12, having the same problem… and then just uninstalled 11 altogether and went back to Vegas pro 9, where, instead of 20 hours (which was the final render time on my 4.5 minute clip) it took 3.5 minutes to render. Despite all the new bells and whistles Vegas has brought out, I will just stick with good old 9.
Thanks to everyone for their awesome help and support!