MrBlais said:
			
		
	
	
		
		
			A year of school that set me back $5,500... Glad to see people are still buying '
toys'.. 
		 
		
	 
 
Wow, your school is a much better deal than mine, price-wise.  I just started, and it's about that same amount, but per semester.  My job might cover half of it, though, which would make us even.  
 
 
My "tech" budget for a year usually averages out to about $500, including computer hardware, computer software, phones, embedded devices and video game hardware (not video game software or accessories, but I generally buy those when I find good deals, like this week's B2G1 from Toys'R'Us and Amazon).  Last year was a new PC (Shuttle Athlon X2 system), this year was a Pandora.  I'm buying a house, though (my "house" budget is considerably larger than my tech budget and in fact considerably larger than my savings), and I will have to get some support equipment, such as a good UPS and some sort of wireless router, for my tech stuff.  Also, it turns out that the local fiber optic Internet/TV/Phone service comes with a free netbook, so depending on when this part happens and when my Pandora comes to me, I may have "bought" that stuff while waiting. 
 
I am also keeping my eye on the SheevaPlug, which is almost exactly what I need to replace my aging (~11yo) home server while decreasing my power footprint and looking into replacement monitors.  My 13yo monitor has a 20" viewable screen with 4:3 aspect ratio.  I like 5:3 aspect ratios, but 16:9 seems ridiculously ribbon-like.  Still, I will eventually upgrade when I can get a relatively inexpensive monitor that isn't in any way a downgrade from what I have now.  I worked out that it'd have to be 24.5" diagonal minimum to not be a vertical downgrade.
Also, a couple times I just barely avoided the temptation to buy a video game system which is packaged in the Pandora form factor.