Can I use this?

[morton]

I've got an older Dell Studio 1558 with an i3 core and 4gb of RAM, but its missing its hard drive. I was thinking of testing out a USB bootable linux just to see if it works - I haven't been able to verify if it does or not. Trying to test this with minimal outlay, and I don't have the PSU. I was considering decasing it and running it off 12v.

Would a laptop running i3 at 2.27ghz be suitable to run GroovyMAME? Ideally I would like a brand new PC but just trying to work with what I have. I am not very good with PC's as I haven't really played around inside a laptop - just built a tower years ago. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[krick]

De-casing a laptop is usually a terrible idea.  They are designed such that the case is part of the cooling by directing air flow over hot parts.   Often, parts of the case are metal to dissipate heat as well.