A Few Laptop Questions

[Arct1k]

Hmm Very fast web browsing mainly! LOL...

I built it when I was running a lot of BF2...

Try this

http://www.costco.com/Common/Search.aspx?Dx=mode+matchallpartial&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&Ntk=Text_Search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&D=IntelSeptember&search=IntelSeptember&Ntt=IntelSeptember&topnav=&cm_mmc=BCEmail_248_US-_-Computers-_-15-_-IntelSeptember_BCEmail_248_US

[brijar]

OK, we have figured out that the only things we will be doing with the laptop are probably using it for homework (MS Word) on the road, being able to browse the internet anywhere at home, and maybe using it to run Viper Racing(very old game, still fun, but easily runs on my 700MHz CPU 16MB video card computer) when I have friends over. Not really going to do much video editing or high end gaming, as that should be left to the Xbox 360's and Desktops.

I'm still confused on the 64 bit thingy. I would also like to be able to use my Castle Link software to program my ESC when I leave my desktops.
Cheaper is better. I would like to keep it under $500 if possible.

Another thing. We have Windows 98SE on all our computers. Where is a good place to get Windows XP for a decent price? I would like to convert at least my computer, if not my dad's and my brothers too, once I upgrade the hardware for playing games like Battlefield 2, Live For Speed, and other resource hogging games.
I don't have very much money, so I would like to keep the upgrading as cheap as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions for upgrading my Desktop's:
1. Motherboard
2. Video Card
3. CPU
4. How much memory to get?

Also, overclocking. I've heard about it. My dad says he did it once on a computer a while ago, but it made the fan run really loud and he didn't like the idea that this was hurting the CPU. I have considered overclocking so I can run better games (I get an average framerate of 10FPS on Live For Speed), but is it really worth it, and how badly does it hurt the computer?

Thanx,
Brijar!!!