Hot tip
Okay, if you're in the market for a new laptop, seriously consider a used business-class laptop (e.g. Dell's Precision and Latitude lines). I've got a Precision M4800, and it was already pretty good, right? I've now got a dock, which lets me just take it and go. I've got a *second hard drive* in it. And, it's *really* easy to fix. I literally just had to remove three screws to be able to put in the second hard drive. They're expensive new, but used? I got mine for $300.
re: Hot tip
So, the second hard drive replaces the CD drive. To get to that, all I had to do was take out the battery, remove 2 screws to get the bottom cover off, then remove one screw to take out the CD drive. It was that simple. I've also taken it apart to replace the thermal paste and while that was more complicated, Dell actually provides step-by-step instructions to disassemble the laptop that far. These kind of laptops are seriously quite nice in terms of repairability.
