Yeah if it sounds too quiet and the hard drive doesn't do it's normal bootup grinding (i.e. you can hear it spin and that's it) then it's probably something serious, though it could still be something fairly inexpensive.
Try taking the hard drive out entirely, I've seen it when a drive failed and it stopped a machine from posting at all.
Do the same with the RAM, one stick at a time (or try to find a different stick if you have only one).
Even the battery, run it without that.
Basically remove anything that's removable and hopefully it'll be one of those things.
Beyond that, repairing a laptop isn't overly difficult if you are patient, but getting the parts for a decent price might be hit and miss.. you could luck out and find someone dumping theirs that still works but has a busted LCD. EDIT: Though repairing one with a swivel LCD might be more tricksy.
Too bad this wasn't a bit earlier, I think Lenovo had a sweet deal on one of their tablet laptops.
They do have a good deal on a x61s if you are still looking for small:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/ma...ranty_715_othe
Boxing day is the right time to be shopping for a new laptop though
http://boxingday.redflagdeals.com/