i just can answer some of the questions.
1.
X3100 if you only care to play casual game, not the intensive graphic gaming. good for battery life. it's like 4 or 5 times better than gma 950.
nvidia if you wanna make do some gaming, more like desktop replacement as your workplace, and entertainment. poor battery life. power supply is a must. or you can survive perhaps 1 hour and 30 minutes with battery pack.

some commercial :
- if you got moolah, get vaio sz-series. less headache. dual graphics support for the win (intel x3100 and nvidia 8400gs).
2.
nowadays, it's always intel c2d.
Intel - less heat, better battery consumption. more info: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4247
AMD - a little bit hot than Intel. bad battery consumption from what i hear from friends.
To conclude, the powerful cpu generates more heat and consume more power , lol.

3.
Out of idea. never experience any compaq stuff. The driver should be given. if not available, maybe from the website (online download/support)

All Compaq Presario V3000AU CTO Notebook PC drivers for Windows XP
Windows Drivers for V3000 series

hi.. im looking for 3754tu drivers for xp.... which of above link(from the 1st page) should look into?

they only have vista, no much for xp...
yup.... i edi aware of that...... tot maybe someone here have the solution... ,  guess i hav to google from acer site,

The one i go is at pending area, near the crown square.

Ok guys...just got back my notebook from HP..boy there was A LOT of people in the centre...Had to wait like 40 minutes to collect my stuff.
And I saw like 6 Compaq Presario Notebook stack on one of the service consultant's table top..hmmmm..wonder whose notebooks are those..?

But anywy...they told me it is the same problem again and they change the freaking motherboard again...and they didnt even dare ask for any payment at all. Say it is on the house..
So I ask what happen if the same prob reoccurs again ..they told me to just bring it back and they will change it again..FOC...speaks volumes about the quality of the Compaq Notebooks..doesn't it...

but suddenly it come back then till now it doesnt seem got anything wrong..

No wonder i play with performance, feel like the graphic so cacat 1.... smooth? Dun feel smooth either... 

---

Added on March 8, 2008, 10:14 pmI got a problem, the longer u open ur laptop, slower the processor? Is dat true? I've turned on my laptop for 2 days, it feels quite laggy n the processor meter always hit 100%, I only open limewire, aTube catcher, WLM, WMP, n firefox, but it use 90-100% processor...

Or Vista is eating too many processor? Gotta try win XP....

So if i wan to reformat the laptop now...reformat the Vista, n reinstall xp 1st then vista, does dat means my Vista become not genuine copy ad?