Light up the Sky

Hey. So in the ongoing tragedy that is my life (Overstatement, I know...) I always find myself in awkward situations. So I created this, a panic-button of sorts... Or just to amuse you that this shit actually happens! (If you knew some of the shit Ravenna knows... You'd see me in a wierdass way.)
Anyways, So heres the Good:
A friend gave me a free laptop.

With me, shit can come from good.

This morning, I let a lady friend on said laptop. When she turned it on (Subsequentially me), she noted that the screen was cracked. Thinking she was joking, I take a look for myself, and it looked like total shit. I'm actually typing on the same one, i had to set it up funky. Now, I've had this laptop for a total of 2 months. I feel like a total jerk, although I don't know the cause. What should I fucking do?

Is it a new computer? Is it still under warranty? Get the damn thing fixed!!! Seriously, they make this film that will protect it from cracking.

ten cuidado!

if it was free it was probably moderately old and out of warranty. i forget if it was you panman that was messin around with linux, but if it was and you're feeling good about it, you could try saving up some money to get a new one. If you're going on the cheap, you could get an ASUS EEE pc. its a tiny little laptop, runs linux, comes in 2 4 or 8 gig variants(its the "hard drive" space, but its not an HD, its solid state disk, so it starts up really really quick) they start at 299 i think. i don't think you should really confront your friend, do it if you want though, i doubt he'll help you out, and what can you do, it was free, he can't' give you money back. also they don't really make very many replacement LCDs for laptops, even if they did its prohibitively expensive to send it to the manufacturer and get it fixed. my best suggestion, wait it out, get a nice lappy for college in a few years. the computer market is changing a lot so in a year or two things will be better/cheaper. if i find anything interesting deals though ill let you know.

any chance of a maker and model?

The warranty is far gone, and a computer fresh out of the facory with Linux on it sucks ass, as I hear, though designed for it.
I won't confront him, the chick that was using it at the time was standing next to him...

Anywho, It's a Toshiba Portégé CTe (series) 7200 (series).
It has a Pentium III 497 or so Processor, 192 MB of RAM, 11Gb HDD, And the CD, Floppy, Extra USB's are all on a removable dock. I'm thinking it's about 6-8 years old. Definitely expired warranty.

I only have about $100-200. If I put Linux on, It's going to be a partition on a new computer.

I'm thinking that, since it spent so much time in their basement, then went into heavy use in my possession, it cracked over close to nothing. My previous computer, fast AND reliable (Which still had a lot of kick in it.) had a power surge fry the Hard Drive controller (And the HDD's -- BOTH OF 'EM) and who knows what else on that motherboard. The one before that? Fast, but unstable, done fucked me over. And before that was an old Intel Celeron 733 MHz Processor... 256 MB of RAM slow and reliable. So this is a step down... Way down. But, I can still use it with an external monitor, and I don't think I'll be replacing it, and I can't take it to school no more. Buckin' Fummer.

Well, if you think it's worth it, then keep the computer, format the hard-drive, and put Windows on it.

check out newegg.com panman.
i looked for ya, you can get:
athlon 64 X@4200+
motherboard
160GB Western Digital Hard Drive
KIngston DDR2-800 1.0GB Ram

for 196.96 plus shipping.

that will give you plenty of juice to work with. and it has some room to grow, up to 16gb of ram it'll take(except that 32bit windows only supports up to 4gb,, and you can't even use it all) it won't kick ass if you're a gamer, but if you are one, just save up a bit of money and get a video card(or recycle your old one if its PCI-express). maybe you can convince your rents you'll use this for college too... its good enough and upgradable enough to be in use that long if you take care of it. by the way, im assuming you have a case and power supply you're willing to use, if not factor that in.

Desktop or laptop?

I'm a freshmen in high school, and I need something reasonably priced that I can use through college.

they're desktop parts, you'd have to put it together yourself. its not hard at all. no joke, just takes patience.

I mean, it's not that hard, I know. I've had to do it before. It's just the fact that I need mobility these days.

Anyway, my dad brought home a really good Dell Latitude from his IT dept. that I can use when I go back to Colorado, (Next week.) I can most likely get one of these for around $400 off eBay. That will, at least, hold me over.

Tell you; your broken laptop is 10 times better than my home pc. Believe me; I don't like posting on weekends. But if I try to, it takes something like 10 minutes to get ready for action and every single post takes 02/03 minutes to get fixed in the screen. Jesus Christ, that stuff is sooo damn slow, it's ridiculous!