So. My laptop is being shipped back to me, as-is. I'm giving up on it for the time being, though the parts could be useful. And there's a remote possibility that insurance people would somehow cover it, although I don't think so.

Anyway, rather than paying 600-odd to get a laptop repaired, which will probably only go wrong some other way, I've ordered parts to build a cheap PC, which will arrive tomorrow. So I will eventually be able to do my work comfortably. About bloody time.

For the interested, I ordered from ebuyer, and it was a smidgeon over 200 pounds. Not money I have, but I can't live without it.

• Athalon XP 1800+
• 256MB PC2700 DDR
• CD-RW
• 40GB Maxtor HDD
• Case, motherboard, cables, floppy drive, keyboard, surge protector

Maybe I can write up my project after all.