If you want to understand more about why such systems should generally be avoided, see this comprehensive discussion of PC system balance . I have found that cooling of my machine is dramatically improved if I do not have it sitting flat on the desk during operation. I prop mine up on a couple of CD-ROM jewel cases. Unfortunately, these sorts of difficulties are fairly common. You may be able to find some assistance in this section of The PC Buyer's Guide .
Notebooks are at their core PCs just like desktops are, and they use similar components.
However, they are very different in terms of how they are designed, built and sold, because they are targeted for specific uses and are typically designed as a compromise between size, weight, cost, performance and other attributes. For lots of good tips on how to buy a notebook PC, see this section of The PC Buyer's Guide . There you will typically find much more current information about what hardware is supported, how to jumper or configure the new CPU, and more. If you do swap a PC card and it isn't recognized, try ejecting the card, waiting 20 seconds or so, and then re-inserting it. This page has been served 3058 times.