<p>You can get a new PC for a lot less than $600! For a desktop that's near top of the line ~ and probably with a monitor. You could easily get a new desktop for well under under $400 and less than that if you want to get refurb which Compusa and others sell.</p>
<p>Remember too you'll need lots of space on your old slow HD for XP and you WON'T be able (pretty soon ) to install any Windows updates or security fixes with a bootleg XP. Do you have a NIC card for the school's LAN? Enough USB slots? </p>
<p>You're probably getting close to the time your HD will crash, or for the power supply to die. I don't know, I'd do this for a hobby, but not for a machine I wanted to run clean and trouble free if I were in school. I just upgraded an old HP celeron with a 733mhz for my daughter, but she's only 11 and mostly just uses AIM or AOL. On top of it, she got an Ipod mini and then I had to add XP, a faster USB and transplant a bigger HD I had lying around. By the time I was done I was sorry I bothered.</p>
<p>But hey, if you have to do it, go ahead. I'd really look into a bigger faster HD, or to save money, at least a small cheap second HD. Put the OS on that and leave all your existing programs and things intact on your old HD.</p>