advice on upgrading hard drive and cpu of laptop

[Dan Christensen <jdc@julian.uwo.ca>]

This message isn't debian specific, but I'm hoping that some of
the people on the list will have some useful information to share,
and that others will benefit as well.

I am thinking of upgrading the hard drive and CPU in my Vivante SE
laptop made by Transmonde (now out of business).

First, the hard drive:  the main reason I want to upgrade is to get
something faster.  My HD is a 6G Hitachi that came with my Vivante
when I bought it almost two years ago.  I find it to be very slow.
Can anyone recommend a faster drive, which is also relatively energy
efficient?  8 to 9G would be perfect.  Can anyone guess how many rpm
my drive would be?  I can't find this in any of the docs.  Will any
2.5" IDE drive work?

My CPU is a Celeron 300.  I chose this because it was inexpensive and
doesn't consume much power, but now I'd like a bit more speed, maybe
50 to 100% more.  Would something like a Celeron 500 be a good option?
Or a Pentium?  Or something from AMD?  Will any mobile chip fit into
my motherboard?  How will the energy use of a modern 500MHz cpu
compare with that of a two year old Celeron 300?

For both of the above, I would be interested in feedback about vendors
which people are happy or unhappy with.

Responses either to me or to the list are fine.  I will summarize
any responses sent directly to me.

Thanks,

Dan

-- 
Dan Christensen
jdc@julian.uwo.ca