Burning the midnight oil on a Sunday night.....

Tonight I had the wild idea of trying to fix my laptop's keyboard. There is a diagonal "column" of keys -- the 8ik, keys -- that weren't working. As a cheap workaround, I've been using an external keyboard. I bought a replacement keyboard on Ebay, but as it turns out, I didn't need it. So this evening, I unscrewed the keyboard, disconnected it, reconnected it, and screwed it back in. All the keys are working now. But my little eraserhead mouse is no longer working. I must not have put in the cable properly. Oh well -- I hardly use it. If I really want to use it, I can probably pay a tech to fix it.

Meanwhile, it appears that Ad-Aware has decided by itself to do a scan, slowing down and hijacking my system. And it's doing it in total stealth mode; there are no indicators that it's running (except when I go into Task Manager). Grr argh!

Should my next desktop be a refurb?

My current desktop computer is 9 years old this month. While it still does most of the things I want it to do, there are some things I want to do but can't because the computer is too slow. Tasks like video editing need more memory, more hard drive space, and more CPU speed than what I currently have to offer (the specs: 384 Mb memory, 40 Gb hard drive space, and a 600 Mhz CPU).
For my next computer, I'm tempted to get a refurbished model. The first reason is that it's cheaper than buying a new PC. The second reason is that most refurbs come with Windows XP or XP Pro, which is what I'd prefer over Vista. Third, I can get just the CPU box. I can still use my old monitor, keyboard, and mouse -- all I need is a KVM switch -- so I don't need to buy these items.

One drawback is that if get either an HP or Dell laptop, I'm stuck with a floppy drive because the outer case is specifically built to accommodate floppy drives. I can't replace it with an N-in-1 card reader. Nor would I be able to add a second CD/DVD drive if I wanted to, since there's no room in the front. That's why I prefer modular cases.

The other alternative is for me to buy a bare-bones system and build it myself from parts I have laying around.

Comments?