Should I upgrade or switch to new from my Dell 700m?

Hi, all.
I'm a college student and have a Dell 700m laptop that I bought about 2 years ago.
But because of the lack of performance and some minor hardware failure, I'm deciding whether to upgrade it or just buy a new one.

The primary usage I have for this laptop is just word editing, internet, and occasional watching movie. The laptop doesn't have any problem with these tasks, but every once in a while, I have to run very demanding programs such as Adobe Premiere and MediaShout (a heavy program that needs at least Nvidia 7600M and faster CPU).
Until now, I have been getting by just waiting patiently when something takes too long or just borrowing someone else's computer.

However, one by one the hardware components are failing and the frequency of software error occurance is increasing.
Right now:
Fan is malfunctioning so that it gets unbearably hot on the air vent
DVD Burner can burn only CD-R's
Battery lasts 30min at max, down from 5 hours when I bought it
And lastly, not enough hard disk space...

I would have bought a new laptop already, but the prospect of having Montevina next year and maybe quad-core CPU have been keeping me away from buying a new one.
Also, the next laptop I'm thinking of is gonna cost close to $1800. So I have to be careful on deciding whether to buy new or upgrade...

What would you do?
1. Would you keep the laptop as is and use it until it finally dies
2. Or upgrade hard drive and battery at least and use it until it dies
3. Get a new laptop?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

You can fix the overheating issues, by downloading an installing I8KFANGUI. When installed you can manually change the temps at which the fans turn on. JUst turn your fans on low at like 100F and high when the temps reach 130F.

You can also manually force the fans to high speed to cool your laptop.

A cool laptop crashes less than one which runs hot.

I would keep your laptop kicking until around Christmas. At Christmas time when there are sales you should consider than. I would not hold out for another year, as your files are important and you dont want to have a dead laptop. It is better buying a laptop as its dying, than after its dead. Once its dead, you have nothing and you are forced to buy something ASAP.

K-TRON

 

Trying to keep up with computer technology is basically just chasing your tail--you'll never catch it . If you need the computer now, buy it now, and it sounds like you need it now since your 700M is no longer performing all of the tasks that you need it to do. You are going to see a vast improvement moving to Core 2 Duo and dedicated graphics.

 

One of the main reason why your notebook gets hot is the accumulation of dust in your fan and heat sink. After 2 years of dust collecting, I'm pretty sure there will be a significant amount of junk which should be cleaned out. To do this, you need to open up your notebook and take the fan and heatsink out. This process should take about 15-20min and all you need is a screw driver and a few q-tips/tweezers.
For your DVD rom issue, simply buy another drive on dell.com or ebay to replace your current drive. Another option is to purchase an external DVD drive. These run at MOST $100.
Battery - Calibrate your battery in your bios. That should help a little. But given that it's been 2 years and only gives out 30min of juice, i'd suggest buying a new battery.
Hard drive, replace your hard drive with a larger one. the largest notebook hard drive is 250gb which runs about $180

One of the reason why your notebook crashes is due to overheating. You bios can detect the temps of your notebook and once it reaches a certain temp, it automatically shuts down for safety reason. I think your main priority here is to clean your fan and heatsink. If you still have overheating problems after that, buy a laptop cooler.

I'm sure your current notebook can last at least another year if you make these upgrades. Adding more ram may also help when you're using adobe software too.

 

Buy a new computer. It sounds like your computer is going. Even if you upgrade HDD and buy a new battery you will still have issues both performance and survival (of the PC). Stella's "chasing the tail" comment is so true. What you could buy now for a good price would be night and day from what you have. When the Montevina comes out there will be buzz about the next and you might want that, so buy what you need when you need it, you can wait forever if you keep wanting the best. Because it just keeps getting faster and better.