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Originally Posted by KingDaveRa
Nope.
But I know of two cases where they did. And they died.
1. A laptop was being used by a fairly major OEM (who since went bust - says a lot) as their web server. The reasoning being it had a battery - that's like a UPS, right! Anyway, it died, and took their website down. Duhh.
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The theory is sound. However, in practice it's a terrible idea. Laptops don't make a noise when switching to batter. In my experience, UPS's make an awful racket if the power dies (the alarm on ours at work is extremely, even painfully, loud). No way on earth a passing person wouldn't notice a problem. UPSs can also signal the server if the power dies, so it can contact relevant personell and shut itself down safely. OK, a laptop can do that with custom software, but a UPS can also power the hardware required to send a message (such as network hardware or modem). Admittedly, A Laptop may have a modem built in.
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2. At work, we have a bunch of plasma screens in reception showing all sorts of random stuff. Somebody decided to run one on a laptop sat on a shelf. It overheated horribly, and fried the motherboard. Binned the whole thing as I recall.
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I find it staggering that companies are willing to spend thousands fitting flash plasmas and lcds to their reception areas, but are not happy to spend an extra £200 or £300 on a small PC to run it. OK, so it's worth remembering that "shuttle" style micro PCs are not really designed to run 24/7 either, but there is no reason a mini PC couldn't.
Going back to the OP's point, I'd recommend a mini PC, or if expenses run to it, a Mac Mini. Mac Minis run exceptionally cool, even under a heavy load, and are quiet even at full load.