Yes multisampling is AA. I have experienced that same exact issue. One specific thing I've noticed is as follows:
Once I enable MS, screen flickers to restart graphics I assume. After that, EVERY mouseover lists itself as "set multisampling amount"(or whatever the regular mouse over is of the arrows for MS)
Then, once I click on ANYthing at all, that's when the CTD occurs.
I have an ATi card on Win7 64bit. So this particular issue might not be just nvidia.
One thing to ask of you Kobold. Do you use multiple monitors? And I assume Full screen vs windowed? Reason I ask, I can pump up the MS when running in windowed mode(as i recall anyway). And it's been a while since I played on my laptop, but I seem to recall being able to up the MS when on my laptop(no multiple monitor)
I have a few bugs and whatwhat to chase down, but no time to do it tonight, hence the as I recall and stuff. But i'll do what I can!