However, you rant about this Windows PC, but how much did you use it in the past two years? I use Windows Vista to record and did use XP, and they both have worked fine for the past 5 years.

Do you think it might have been the actual computer? Compaq sucks at life and should be burned at the stake for sucking at everything. Macs suck too, but hey. My Toshiba notebook kicks ass.

Get a Toshiba or Dell or Gateway. Macs are great if you're a dumbass and need to be guided through a document by a computer, but Windows are good at everything else.