I had a lot of headache getting my laptop to recognize the UA-5.
Like page said, some software will default to the built-in sound card, and you might have to disable it in Windows System settings to override this.
It also depends on what OS your laptop runs. IIRC, Edirol didn't bother much about keeping the drivers up to date with Windows Vista, 7 etc.
Im my case, it took a whole day of tweaking and reainstalling the drivers, and once I switched back to the built-in sound card for daily use, I'd have to go through the same hassle again the next time I wanted to connect the UA-5.
If you're short of time, you might have to resort to analog in, or borrowing gear...