$900 Stimulus payment

Well I received my $900 at the end of last week (part of Kevin Rudd's stimulus package) (See information from the ATO).

Now the aim of this stimulus package is that people receive the money, spend it, hence "stimulating" the economy. On principle I disagree with the stimulus package - $42Billion - how long will it take for Australia to get out of budget deficit? And I planned to put my $900 straight on my credit cards.

But I think I might have mentioned previously, I have been needing a new computer for a long time. It does still work, but it is an 7 year old laptop, and it has been on it's last legs for a while. Now the internet is playing up on it.

I do have a computer at work (what I'm using now actually - some personal use is allowed), but I don't really like the idea of using my work computer for personal stuff. I am going to try to hold out for a bit longer - would like to get some of my other income from marking etc through, and am going to list some things on Ebay this coming week/weekend.

I do want to look around and compare prices/brands etc. I always refer to myself as "computer illiterate" when it comes to working out what I should actually buy. Have no idea about things like processor speeed/RAM etc. Luckily my brother has a PhD in information technology (and yet he still couldn't fix my computer!) so he can help me work out what to get.

I'm tempted to buy a desktop to start with, and then once I have saved up some more money buy a mini laptop.