Well, about two days ago my computer did bite the dust for good. I don't think I could even describe here how mad I was/am about it. It's not just that I need to buy a new computer now, that's actually the smaller problem. The bigger problem is the stuff that was on my comouter that I might have lost (well, I will try to retrive as much as possible, but I am sure I won't be able to save all). The motherboard is irrerversibly damaged and that means no good. Seriously, the whole thing makes me wanna kill someone (preferably my own computer again), argh!!! On the upside, this made me forget my stress with the University. It's like...when your stomach hurts, but someone breaks your arm, so that you forget about the stomach ache, hehe.

Anyway, I won't be much on here for the next days. Right now, I'm at my brother's home. Gotta look for a new computer now and try to save what I can from the old one. Any similar experiences or suggestions?

my laptop is broken. So I can sympathize with you.

If your motherboard is damaged, that shouldn't effect your harddrive. Just take out the old HD and put it into your new computer as a secondary drive. That way you'll have all your old crap at your fingertips.

As for computers to buy... if you're looking for a cheap halfway decent one I know Dell has a 2.5 Ghz, 80GB HD, 256 MB RAM, with a 17" monitor for $299.

Apparently the overheating damaged the HD as well, at least it seems this way currently. As for the new computer, I'll be getting one next week and I'll go for a medium-priced one, probably something around $800-900. One thing I am not sure about is what graphic card to get for the new computer. I don't know much about them...

If you're not going to use the PC for gaming, it is ultimately irrelevent. One can get by with a substandard graphics card if you only use it to surf the internet and to do homework.

If you do game on the PC, I'm not the best to ask. I'm no expert on graphics cards.