Woodman,
About the preconfigured computers, I can understand where you are coming from and have to say that I have had a preconfigured HP a320N desktop for 5+ years (2.01 ghz single core with 2 gigis of ram). It is getting to the point I hate to part with it but I ahve burned out more after market parts (2 video cards, 1 power supply, and 2 burners) than anything else. I think a lot of the parts that come with the more reputable systems may ahve their issues, but often you can get things fixed without having to scrap the whole system. That is the nice thing about parts, they are replaceable. The other thing I think people seem to forget is that laptops are still really pretty new. If you look at computing in general processors tend to double in speed every 2-5 years and I think a lot of the peripherals are not caught up yet, so there are issues that you are going to notice. As to laptops getting so hot, when you have solid mostly closed case you really limit the space for air to pass around the processor or gpu on your laptop and the heat from the system running has to go somehwere. On your big old desktop you probably ahve afan directly on top of the processor, GPU and a case fan plus air circulating in the case all the time. I think a lot of how long stuff lasts depends on how you use it and what you use it for.