New laptop

So, i just got my first laptop (using it now). It is pretty nice and i got a pretty ok deal on it. Specs are below.

AMD Athalon II x2 M300
500GB HDD
4GB RAM
Roughly 3 hour and 30 min battery life.
DVD/CD drive + web-cam + SD card reader

All for about $540

It's not a gaming lap-top or anything but since this is my first laptop i would like to hear what you seasoned lap-top users have to say (do's and don'ts). Any advice is greatly appreciated.

So, i just got my first laptop (using it now). It is pretty nice and i got a pretty ok deal on it. Specs are below.

AMD Athalon II x2 M300
500GB HDD
4GB RAM
DVD/CD drive + web-cam + SD card reader

All for about $540

Since this is my first laptop i would like to hear what you seasoned lap-top users have to say (do's and don'ts). Any advice is greatly appreciated.

NO!

have it up on something so you can get some ventilation under it. they make little laptop fan things for them that are pretty good if you're willing to put up with the extra encumberance.

don't get anything with fans, waste of energy. I got a Rubbermaid laptop stand from Wal-Mart that was mesh and that thing is awesomo! Another thing to remember is don't drop it. Athlon doesn't have an extra "a" in it, but those specs are decent for what you will use it for and you can still get on the HL2DM servers. I would say very nice job on picking a good laptop your first time.

Thanks guys. I may have to look for a stand or maybe build one myself. All this advice greatly helps. However, I am probably not putting any games on here. This is kind of a more "business related laptop" although i am sure i could manage hl2. I can still pop in on you guys from the laptop here without a problem.

Keep the advice coming!!