The OS is not tied irrevocably to the hardware. Wipe out Vista and install a linux distro on it. That way you're not shoveling out money for new hardware.
I know how to and have reformatted our computers, but I have no experience with Linux, where to get the disks for it, how it works, where do I get the specific drivers the various hardware parts in my laptop would need to run Linux, (and if they are even available) and so on.
I thought about wiping Vista off the machine and installing XP, as I have an extra copy of it, but from everything I have been able to find out, because this is a farily new machine, the manufacturers of the various components of the laptop have not produced drivers for XP. Is there a site with an FAQ to learn and study all such obvious questions for a Windows to Linux conversion?