First of all, this book sees the world through the eyes of a laptop owner.
Laptops can do everything that a desktop PC can do, and in much the same
way, but are built very differently.
The important difference is the construction. This book explores all sorts of
ways to replace or upgrade components that slide into, connect to, or attach
onto a modern laptop. You open hatches and compartments, too. But you will
not open the sealed box that encases the motherboard and holds in place the
LCD screen; thats not a job for Dummies. . .or even for most experts. Its too
complex, too tight a working space, and usually not an economically sensible
thing to do.
My goal is to give you news you can use, information that will help you fix
problems, replace parts, and add external upgrades and workarounds. Laptop
computers are not quite like the one-horse cart that Oliver Wendell Holmes
memorialized in poetry; that wonderful one-hoss shay, built in such a logical
way, ran 100 years to a day before all the pieces fell apart at the same time.
Different components have differing life expectancies. Part of this book is a
lesson in economics; does a broken machine stay or go?