I've downloaded the dolphin emulator on my laptop and every time I open it, it crashes within a few minutes, regardless of if I start playing a game or just sit with the emulator open. I would appreciate any help you guys could give me, thanks!
Have your tried the latest 5.0 dev build of Dolphin?
Is your Windows fully up to date? are your Intel iGPU and Nvidia GPU running the latest drivers?
Have you tried restarting your computer (not Shutdown option, but Restart)? This way it clears out a Microsoft cache that holds on to things between shutdown cycles to make turning your computer on faster (aka the Fastboot system)
It's definitely advisable to keep updating to the latest development version, but if you're experiencing issues that are unique to you, it's more likely a problem on your computer. I got around similar issues by installing a clean dual boot instance of my OS just for games and nothing else. I'm on Linux, but top end gaming PCs aren't unusual for running two systems so that performance is maintained for gaming without problems introduced by historic libraries and applications. The cleaner you are, the better performance you'll see.