Basically, over the last 2 years, my laptop has been slowly falling apart. This is a list of things wrong with it:
-Left hinge, is very close to coming off, with the paneling popping up every time I open it
-The thing that holds the screen to the laptop base has a major crack
-The section at the back where the hot air is pupped out, the grill has bee cracked and is missing numerous bars
-The cover of the CD tray has popped off, meaning whenever I want to open the CD tray, I have to do it from inside explorer
-The lack of cover on the CD tray has left very sharp pieces of metal exposed, one of which, sliced my finger open pretty badly.
-The popper on the expansion port is constantly out due to the fact that the spring inside has broken. And constantly gets caught going in and out of my bag
-The rubber padding on the mouse buttons, has completely come off, meaning the buttons have a about a 5mm hollow in them to where they should be.
-The LED indicating whether or not the mousepad is switched on/off is broken
-The feet on the base off the laptop have broken off, meaning whenever its on a flat surface, i either have to prop it up on a book, or it over heats
-The media card reader has ceased working
Then, today, I came home tried to open my laptop and it wouldn't open. Found that the latch was stuck on one side and that it was impossible to open. I tried to pry it open, but to no avail as it would simply ripped the paneling off and that would never be good.
I ended up removing the whole bottom casing (losing a screw in the process), and still not being able to open it.
So i turned to google, and found that other people had the same problem, one saying that he had to cut the latch with pliers(which wasn't possible for me, as I couldn't open the lid enough to cut the metal hook), and another saying that he used a paper wedge to push it open.
Needless to say, 2 hours later after removing the hard drive, the ram, the network card, and everything single screw that existed in the laptop, and STILL not being able to remove the bottom paneling due to there being screw underneath the area where the lid was. I FINALLY managed to get it open, using a mixture of paper clips, a screw driver, a pen knife, a usb drive and a section of my zune dock (don't ask). Put it all back together, very surprised that it still worked, made me giggle as it booted up from hibernate like nothing had ever happened, even thought pretty much everything had been remove.
So, my laptop is coming to the end of its life, I want to upgrade the ram, but know eventually it will fall to pieces and I will need to buy a new laptop.
Right now, my laptop is crucial, as I have a lot of typed worked that needs doing. But next year, I'm going to be living alone (or with my GF depending on what boarding arrangements are at her Uni), working to get enough money to rent a flat (somewhere in the UK, Bristol/Chichester/Nottingham/Bath, but thats another story.
I have about 450 pounds (around 900$ if the exchange is good), and a spare 80 euros lying around (from my time in Belgium this Christmas, maybe another 150$?). However I was planning on using this to help me get started next year. But, it's come to the point where this laptop is on its last legs.
Do I live everyday expecting the laptop to blow up or fall to pieces, or do I just buy a new one, cheap in the US before I move back to the UK, where laptops are a lot more expensive, and hope that my current laptop will last me another year or 2? I'm by no means a retard when it comes to computers, I know my stuff, however theres only so much a man can do.
My laptop:
I just uninstalled most of it, just keeping the software which runs my quick-launch keys.
Much love to those that answered 
This is what happens when family buys computers because of advertising instead of asking someone.
