I'm gonna give a college student's pov

1. still studying computer engineering

2. lots of mathematics classes (both theory and applications)... exams almost everyday (my scores range from F to A...

Probably taken by the laptop's camera through a mirror.

Here's my current desktop.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/scudzilla/desktop.jpg

Yeah, that was Vista. I just rolled back to XP a few days ago. (Compatibility issues) I'll be posting the new desktop when I have time.

For the moment, could anyone suggest a great desktop skin?...

Alright, thanks a lot guys. I'll try to come up with more questions so I could gather more info.

PS: I don't tend to OC my cpu because I'm after stability as well as performance.

3D and nope, no rendering. I said I'm gonna do some cad editing but I guess it will only be for a short time (one semester) so in the long run, it will not matter. I guess I'll go for AMD.

For...

I'm gonna do a lot of CAD editing next year. Multimedia.. meh, don't edit much but I do when I need to.

Hey, what quad core processors are already in the market? Amd Opteron? How about Intel Core2 Extreme Quad core?

I'm gonna buy individual parts and set up my own computer. I already have 1 gig ram so I will not focus on buying anymore ram (but if you advice to get more...). Video card is just 256 mb so I'm...

For a student.. Those laptops with cheap graphics so gaming will be limited. lolz

Time to throw it 6' under the ground.. Kidding.. This is a serious problem. Anyway, suggestions:

check the video card for damages
maybe the power led or the front panel buttons are just...

Er.. big Naruto fan here :P