death of the old

so my computer goes down again for the umpteenth time and the extended warranty is finally up. this time it is the most petty of reasons -- a combination of short battery life and a short somewhere in the power socket. but what it comes down to is whether to fix the beast on my own dime or just buy one that works.

buy one that works.

then the problem is, which one? the introduction of windows vista complicates things, since you can't get a new pc without it, and since it is bound to be full of bugs since it is new. so a mac, perhaps? perhaps.

if only it wasn't so hard to spend a thousand plus dollars. anyway, wish me luck on the hunt for a suitable, portable, uncomplicated machine. that works.