computer woes

My laptop died on Sunday. After I spent eight hours on Saturday updating it and installing Office 2010. And I had an electronic copyedit due today. It really wasn't a good weekend for me. So, what do I do now? Well, I think I let my friend who's really PC-tech-savvy take a look at it. If he can't sort it out, I'll send it to my dad. And if HE can't sort it out . . . then I'll be buying a new laptop. Which I'm not really prepared to spend the money on, but I suppose that's what tax returns are for, right? My partner-in-crime is trying to convince me to buy a Mac, which I think is totally unnecessary given that I only use computers for word processing, the Internet, and video games. Why spend all that money on a Mac when I can get a PC for several hundred dollars less that'll do that trick just fine? Oy. Well. One step at a time.

Anybody have any thoughts on good computers to look at?

Boy, and I thought today was going to be busy BEFORE I added "finish electronic copyedit" to my to-do list. Wish me luck!