I chose the road less traveled by #32

[MichelleLT]

Hmm, theoretically Dell's desktops are better than their laptops. I forget who was rated number 1 for desktops. I'd have to look it up again. But Sony VAIO always does pretty well. eMachine is pretty budget but I've heard good thigns. Dell tends to be cheaper, which is reflected in their customer service. I'd stay away from Compaq and HP (although they may have fixed their hard drive issues in the last few years) as well. With the sales going on now through the new year, I'm sure if you wanted to you could pick up a newer one with Windows 7 (SO much better than Vista!) for cheap.

My law school laptop purchase was a Toshiba. Only complaint I have is that it has Vista on it lol. At this point it's over 3 years old and still going strong.

But hopefully you can get this one fixed quick and not have to worry about it. *fingers crossed*