[Revolting cat!]

I'm sorry to hear you cannot junk it for a while (after that give up on proprietary brand name junk that, as you can plainly see, is not upgradeable - build your own. There was an excellent thread on this topic last night. Let me know if you cannot find it) In the meantime, see if you can persuade others to junk their Packard Bells so that you can cannibalize them for parts. I am only half joking - people do throw away old computers literally on the street, and if you can somehow locate one (usenet? craigslist.com?) perhaps you can find usable components.

[Aliska]

There was an excellent thread on this topic last night. Let me know if you cannot find it)

That thread is here and is long but well worth wading through. Consensus is pretty evenly divided between buying a new Dell and some other brandnames and building your own using resources (links) given throughout the thread.