What to get/make/fix?!

[cptasker]

Hi all,

Ive got a Sony Vaio laptop and the hard drive has had its day. I'm currently using live cd to research and in the next week or 2 plan to either repair/upgrade/start from scratch. My options are..

1. Buy a new hard drive and be happy with what I've got, hoping nothing else breaks (my dvd rw went 6 months ago so I'm not gonna count on it)

2. Buy a new hard drive and upgrade the laptop, as even though its not old I didn't know much about computers when I bought it and the specs are a bit poop

3. Start from scratch and build myself a desktop! I'd like to have a go of this, there is just alot out there to choose from! I live by a computer fair so all I really need to do is decide what to get!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to look for with regards to Linux compatibility as I'd like to stick with Ubuntu if possible.

There is just so much info on building your own PC out there, if anyone has any suggestions/past experiences that might help I'd be grateful!

Thanks

[fiddledd]

I've built all my Desktops for the last 10 years, it can be fun. However I tend to upgrade every year so I end up with lots of unused Hardware (Motherboards, Gfx Cards, NICS, HDDs etc). I have 3 PCs that are used regularly and 4 unused Towers and lots of oldish hardware. ATM, I mostly use the Laptop. There are 2 reasons for this, I am more comfortable lying on the bed using it (messed up back) and it uses hardly any power. So I'm sort of doing my bit for the environment.
So if it was me I would buy a new Hard Drive for the Laptop.