Advice on next computer

Hi, I just wanted to get some general advice on what kind of computer I should get next. I've been using my hp pavillion ze2000 laptop for 4 years now. While it gets the job done, I'm looking for a change to something better. I've thought about netbooks (battery life and lightweight), but a netbook can't replace my laptop for entertainment purposes because of its screen size. I'm deciding whether to get a desktop (more bang for the buck) or a new laptop (portability). I am a college student, so my computer uses are web surfing, movie playing, very little 3D gaming. My other considerations are: Screen size - big screens on desktops is nice, but on laptops = more weight OS - I want to stay with XP (I have it on a cd for when i reformat) Specs - really anything will be an improvement (right now I have Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1.24 GB RAM, 40 GB HD). I play some low-spec games, and don't need top of the line stuff Price - important factor, I want stay below 600-700 Any suggestions of desktop vs laptop, or more specific choices, is welcome! Thanks! PS On a random note, I tried to clean my laptop keys and accidentally broke one of the key retainers. oops

Laptops are great from a space point of view, the problem is they are not very upgradeable so are always dated as to how long they will be useful for, a desktop walks all over a laptop in that respect, because you can change everything in that, so you will never have a useless system, you can always upgrade, a laptop does not have this ability. My best suggestion is go for a desktop, you already have a laptop, so you can use that for college etc, then transfer the info to the desktop and continue working there and vice versa, you have the best of all worlds then. The downside with making a build from scratch is it's quite expensive initially, and people often skimp on valuable components to keep costs down, this often proves to be a false economy, but on the upside once you have the most part of the system then upgrading is really cheap, but this only rings true if you spend the money to start with. The most essential parts of a good system IMHO are the case and the PSU, to many times people try to save money in this area, and it always costs more in the long run, a good case gives good cooling, this is essential in a high spec build, but most important is the PSU, this is the heart of your system, you wouldn't put the engine of an old banger in a formula 1 car would you ? So make sure you buy the biggest most powerful one you can afford, I only use PCP&C now as they are the best, but just getting something thats enough to power what you need now, means come upgrade time you may need to upgrade that as well, so get the biggest\best at the start and it should see you through any future upgrades. Then get your drives (hard and optical), and you have something to build on forever pretty much, you should never need to change these again, but of course this makes it quite expensive initially, but it's an investment if you want the best in affordable steps. Once you have all this the only things left are the motherboard, CPU and ram, and these are the only bits you need to swap in future upgrades, so an expensive start, but hopefully you can see the benefits, so what you could do initially is get a cheap(er) board and CPU, that will allow you to get all you need with what you can afford, then when you get more money you can just upgrade these bits. There is 1 wild card in all this though, and thats the graphics card, they often work across many upgrades, but there always comes a time where this needs upgrading as well, but as with the board etc, get a cheap one to start, and upgrade in the future when you can afford it, unless your a hard core gamer you shouldn't have any problems, hope this gets you started anyway.