computer woes

So... my laptop gave me a major scare last night. Namely, a blue screen announcing a "System File Failure" and informing me that "physical memory dump" was "complete". Whatever the hell that means. Oh, and telling me to "contact my administrator" for further assistance. Gahhh!... Sounded pretty much like computer death to me. I just kept turning it off, and then back on, for about an hour in persistent denial, hoping for a miracle - before it occurred to me that I could go back to the initial "boot order" screen and try starting Windows in safe mode. And, thank all the gods, it worked. I was able to use "System Restore" and bring it back to previous day's settings. Seems fine now. HOWEVER... I am under no illusions that this will not happen again. This laptop, ladies and gentlemen, is SEVEN YEARS OLD. It's basically just a piece of junk that pretends to be a computer at this point. It has a 519MHz processor, 448MB of RAM and a 37GB hard drive. That's, like, NOTHING by today's standards. All the new ones start at about twice as much. And no matter how good my antivirus software is these days, the system is going to keep crashing every once in a while. It's simple wear & tear, I suppose. One day it will inevitably succumb to the final blue screen of death. *sniff*

So, my point is, I am NOT going to spend a penny on trying to fix it when that happens. I paid $300 for virus cleanup/file rescue last summer - and how much extra time did that buy me?... Another year?... Two, perhaps?... Uh-huh. I'll be getting myself a new one. The thing is, I don't exactly have big bucks to spend. I can't afford all the bells and whistles on a PC, and let's just conveniently forget about a Mac (which everyone keeps recommending to me, like I owned a goldmine or something :/). I want the basics - but I also want to be able to use it for a good few years (maybe not seven or more, lol, but about five would be nice). So it might not be a good idea to pick the cheapest model (I could get a slightly better version of what I have now for about 300-400$, but I'd rather pay another hundred or two for a good one... if you know what I mean). On the other hand, I'm not willing to invest in some fancy extra features I don't really need. I don't do heavy duty stuff like downloading movies or playing 3D video games. I browse the web a lot, and I want to be able to watch DVD's and online videos in good quality - but it doesn't have to be HD, let alone BluRay. And I don't need a terrifying amount of storage - most of the stuff I really care about is backed up on a bunch of CD's already, and right now my 37GB hard drive is good enough for me. So what I'm wondering about is whether I can get what I need for under 500$, or should I fork out more?... Also, which brands are really trustworthy?... I was sort of gravitating towards a Toshiba, but then I read some online reviews that totally trashed it, so I don't know. Any thoughts/advice/recommendations will be welcome.

I am not buying a new computer yet, btw - I'll wait for the old one to breathe its last, lol. But when that happens - presumably in a not-too-distant future - I want to be prepared. So I don't just sit there biting my nails and tearing my hair out (which is pretty much what I did when it crashed last August) - but instead calmly get up, grab my credit card and drive to the nearest computer store, with a pretty good idea in my mind of what I'm looking for. Sounds like a plan, don't you think?...;)

Anyway... I do realize I have some backlog in comment replies and stuff, but I've been sort of preoccupied with the above.:P I will get there soon, I promise. Right now, it's bedtime (geez!!!...already?... how does it always manage to sneak up on me like that???... *sigh*). Talk to you guys later. *yawns*