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I have been looking online trying to find any how-tos for installing Suse on my laptop. I have checked linux-laptops and they don't have my model of laptop on there. I have a Sony Vaio PCG-FRV26. Is it pretty much the same installing Linux on a laptop as it is a desktop?
It will be mostly the same. There are a few points that I have encountered that will occassionally generate problems when installing Linux on a laptop:
The mouse. Often the mouse, especially if it is a mini-joystick (I forget the real name) will not work, and you'll be forced to use an external mouse. The touchpad mice occassionally work, I've had it work on my Dell laptop, but a friend couldn't get his to work.
The monitor may perform slightly under par, and it may be harder to configure.
Aside from that, just make sure that you have drivers for all of your hardware, especially if any of it has been upgraded.
For the most part though, it should work the same. Let us know if you have any problems with it once you start installing it.
Mice and monitors are the things I've had the most trouble configuring for.
If you find out the make and model of the video card and display, search for a how to for those makes and models. The rest of the hardware, I haven't had much trouble with.
I even got it installed on an old 200mhz toshiba tecra 300cdt (something like that)...
Before you install, download and run Aida32 and create a full html report and print it. Its going to be quite a few pages, but it'll be worth it. It will tell you EVERYTHING about your laptop that you could possibly want to know. It will be an invaluable resource when installing your OS.