Korean Job Discussion Forums

[stvwrd]

Laptop bit the dust last night, but I HAVE to be up and running again within a couple days. One of my company's computer experts volunteered to accompany me to Yongsan, but we have to communicate through my very lacking Korean.

After being very very slow for a while last night, and getting some strange messages about not being able to access the folder with security files in it when starting up Firefox, the thing refused to boot at all, saying one of the .dll files is missing or corrupt.

Now, even though the computer's a bit old, (3 years), it is an HP Pavillion zv5000 2.8Ghz machine with a 15" widescreen monitor (though it's starting to show wear and tear). 40 gig HDD, DVD drive (no DVD burning). I think it still has some life left in it.

I suspect that it will need a new HDD, and I'd like to get a RAM upgrade while I'm at it (it only has like 512mb I think, if that much). Also, down the line I was thinking of getting like a 22 or 24 inch LCD and just getting rid of my TV.

Problem: I guess I left my XP install disks stateside, so I guess I'll be at their mercy as to what OS they can give me. Is Vista worth it? Stick with XP?

Uses: No gaming. Mostly word processing, website tweaking, skype-ing, DVD watching, lots of downloading. I would like to do some picture editing and possibly some rudimentary video editing. Cable tv watching in the future? (as I understand, it will require a special LCD monitor, or else a hardware and software package not likely to run on my laptop anyway)

I do like mobility (doing work at coffee shops and such), but I haven't had it in a long time because the plug-in for the power supply is very finnicky. If you move the computer the wrong way it takes forever to get it plugged in just right again. I had it fixed at the HP service center once but it started doing it again like a month later. Also the thing is big and heavy.

Ideas:

Scrap the whole thing and buy a new desktop
go ahead with the peace meal upgrades, save up for a decent LCD down the road.
Scrap the whole thing and go for a new low-end (less than 1 mil) laptop. This time I'd probably get the smallest and lightest available, and buy the LCD monitor down the road.

So what do you all think?

[stvwrd]

I left out a big piece of this: Cheap is also important. If it's gonna cost me the same amount to buy a new desktop with a decent LCD as it will to fix my laptop, then I'd probably go with the desktop.

But, if an extra 100k or so would get me something a lot better then I'd probably go ahead and do it.