>     My old Toshiba went bang after 3 years of good services :-( I bought a 
> HP Compaq and the thing is faster than my desktop. It makes more sense to 
> use it instead of the desktop but some question arose...
> 
>     - What is best for the batteries ? Should I leave them inside the 
> Notebook or should I take them out when using external power ? What is best 
> for the Li batteries ??

I just leave them in. I have two, and during the occasional black-outs they
get used, exchanged, and then both recharged. Seems to work fine.

>     - Has anyone tried to use a Notebook as a Desktop ? Will it last ? Will 
> the 24/7 usage I make on my desktop kill it sooner ?

Depends... I have a desktop that's over 7 years old and still working
nicely (with a few upgrades). I've been using two Dell Inspiron notebooks
(in sequence) as primary machines for 5 years now, and really love it to be
able to go on a trip without having to do anything special with my
computer: just take it out of the dock, put it in my backpack and that's
it. But I don't think I'd use the same notebook for 7 years. (OTOH, I
probably wouldn't use a desktop unaltered for 7 years as a primary machine
either.)

>     - Does anyone can say if it is a bad idea and why ? I am quite 
> apprensive because I never thought about doing it before.. It is weird how 
> something that makes sense but with wich we have no previous experience can 
> be annoying..

There are things for which I'd want a standard PC around, like standard COM
and parallel ports (many notebooks, if they still have them, have slightly
non-standard ones that may or may not work with your specialty application)
or the possibility to simply plug in an old ISA card or so, or to have it
work as a file server or something like that. But for this, often an older
machine does nicely.

Gerhard
_______________________________________________
http://www.piclist.com
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist