Converting a server laptop to a stand alone

HI everyone,

I am not terribly good with computers with limited knowledge. I can do simple tasks like format hard drives, clone them, partition them, and build systems.

Just enough knowledge to make me dangerous and a pain to all you serious techs.

So on to the question!

I have just bought a COMPAQ 6720 THIN CLIENT NOTEBOOK off of ebay for $320 aud.

Totally my fault for not reading the description properly, but i didn't realize it was a server laptop.

So now i know that it is not a stand alone laptop and was wondering if there was any way to make it a stand alone system.

My intent was to make it a very simple machine to allow my not very tech savvy mother, (60yo) to check her email and surf the web, on a screen size that was bigger than a net book.

I was thinking may be a bootable external usb hard drive with O/S and apps would do the trick. But not sure?

Any help would be appreciated.