These are good suggestions, although No-CD h4x are practically made for laptops...and filthy, filthy pirates.
The suggestion about Apple products is especially good. PC laptops really aren't built all that solidly, most manufacturers just go "Oh hey, lets make a desktop PC only smaller!" and just get parts that fit in a smaller chassis without any mind for the abuse a notebook takes. Even with the utmost of care, if you're moving from class to class with it at all the poor dears rattle themselves apart. Best case scenario a couple of connectors come loose, worst case a fan busts itself. Though I've never owned one, I have a friend who's a certified tech for both Dell and Apple, and he swears by the newer (last two years-ish) Powerbooks. Says the things are nigh indestructible. Only bad thing is they're a lot more expensive.
EDIT: I realized the No-CD cracks comment wasn't that specific, what I meant was if you install these then it only eats up amounts of battery more or less comparable to normal operation.