Regarding throwaway computers, I just got a dell mini to replace my ibook, as another apple was way out of my price range. My husband, his brother, and dad all build their own computers, but when they don’t have time to build, they buy dells. My mom has had a dell desktop quickly approaching 4 years old, and it works as well as the day she got it.

I think the throwaway comment goes across the board with PCs, just because of the rapid increases in tech quickly devalue the computer and you know how people have the latest and greatest.

For a fun frugal note, I bought my first ibook at a pawn shop in 2000, one of the clamshell ones like in Legally Blonde only mine was grey (a bit more powerful). I kept using it through this year when my needs overwhelmed its capabilities, and then converted it to a DVD player for travel. Amortized, that little laptop has cost me about $53/yr and its still going!