what to look for buying laptop. and do you really want?

DO I REALLY WANT A LAPTOP?
So you decided you want a laptop? Have you really thought about why you want a laptop over a desktop? i own up to 10 laptops at any given time. my partner uses a dell c600 pentium 3 with a 850 mhz processor and 512 mb of memory. i use a home geputer for the selling end of things. my geputer is a pentium 4 2.8 ghz 112 gig hd 1 gig of mem. i bought this unit right here on okay for around 175 delivered and added my own drives. excelent purchase. i also bought her laptop here on okay and supplied drive screen, and hd caddy. then gave her a floppy a wi-fi card and a dvd rom. cost right about the same. for mobile geputing she has me beat hands down. for reliability, speed, ease of use, and storage theres no geparison. right about now your saying "well hers is a pentium 3" and my reasoning for this is a major flaw in pentium 4 laptops. they create an extreme amount of heat and cannot dispel the heat properly causing a simple but "painful to the pocket" case of heating and cooling affect. which turns metal into a very brittle and unreliable substance. if youve been shopping for laptops then you will see a high amount of pentium 4 laptops ether "untested" or bad mother board. for that reason alone they were considered a joke amongst the sellers. a new laptop can sustain a drop from up to 3-4 feet without breaking. a used laptop cannot take a mild drop from more then a foot without risking the motherboard or processor.
WHY DELL C600?
the dell c600 has 2 cooling fans installed. if the paste is still fresh on top of the processor then your good to go. they will take the punishment of true mobile geputing. her laptop is dropped on the average of twice a week.
now back to whether you truly want a laptop or should you get a home geputer? if i never had to touch a laptop for operating purposes i wouldn't. unless it was docked and i could use my 24 inch monitor mouse and keyboard. on the flipside when i went out of town it saved my butt from several problems. one i was able to sit in a hotel parking lot with it and do okay and answer emails at no cost using a wifi card. 1 week out of town means over 1000 emails and lost revenue for me. plus it got me a negative feedback from a user who didn't read the invoice i sent him prior to leaving. i found that most all large motels with a business class acgeodations have a wifi system free for there guests makes it kinda nice. but if your plans are to have the geputer in one location go with a desktop. if room allows.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND WHAT YOU CAN DO.
ok so your still looking for a laptop. first thing you need to do is look thru the parts section. you dont need an engineering degree to do the basics when it gees to most laptops these days. find a popular unit with alot of parts available. reliable parts and not questionable items. your better off buying it without the hard drive. 9-10 times it wont gee with a caddie either. so make sure you can obtain one cheap. BUY YOUR HARD DRIVE NEW. same thing applies to hard drives as with p4 laps. bigger isn't always better. used do not ship well. what worked when it left may not apon arrival. we call ups our samsonite luggage gorillas. i think if you write fragile on something it just became a soccer ball. and i to all those ups workers who do have a heart and only kick 1 or 2 goals in a day. you know its true. so buy new and keep in mind. a 200 mb hard drive still works great 15 years later but a 100 gig fails. too much too little too brittle too bad your warranty is up. some hard drive caddies gee with a heat sinc pad. buy it, pay the extra amount for it. its still cheaper then a hard drive on the road and all the info and time you lost because of the failure. when you get your new laptop in. go down to a true geputer store. and ask for heat sinc paste. it sells with all new heat since when you buy them. dell supplies the best i've found. wont dry up as fast. remove your heat sinc from your laptop and apply a good dab to the top of your processor right in the center. make sure it wont flow over the edges onto the connectors. and put it back together. you just did two things. first is you insured that the heat wont get trapped in your processor causing slow operating conditions. 2nd you also insured the heat sensor would pick up the signals to turn on the fan. VERY IMPORTANT.
I COULD GO ON FOREVER ON THIS SUBJECT BUT THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE DONT HESITATE ASKING. I LOVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP OTHERS ON THESE AND ALL SUBJECTS I CAN. I SPENT A WEEK HELPING A GUY GET HIS AIR CONDITIONING WORKING RIGHT AND HIS THANKS WAS ALL I WANTED. THERES ALOT MORE TO LIFE THEN MONEY. THANKS
powerzap69 Steve