I'm judging you.

ohemGEE

Yes I apparently CAN HAS a new laptop today...!! IT'S SO PRETTY AND SHINY AND READY FOR ME TO PUT A BUNCH OF SHIT ON 8DDDD

Pics of the bouncing bundle of joy will follow after I finish having my wicked way with it~ >)

Although, while this thing is indeed PURTY (and it's got Win7 on it, which I am actually liking the more I play around with it! Didn't expect to, as I never had any problems with Vista and I know some things I liked were taken out...) they keyboard layout is drastically different from my old computer, so I find my fingers flying to certain places and hitting incorrect keys >_< Also, it's a funky widescreen (and actually SHORTER in height than my old one :/) and now NONE of my wallpapers fit ;___; I shall have to reformat them if I want to use them...

Devoted PC user?

Think Macs are pretty but expensive (and ugh, that interface :P)?

Don't want to/can't afford to upgrade to Vista from XP, but really like the visual look of it?

...Ever heard of shell packs? :D

When I had my desktop back in America, it was an XP machine, and while I was quite happy with it, it was quite drab, and despite plastering FABULOUS wallpapers on it, I still had to deal with that fugly blue theme and all.

So I dug around online and came across CrystalXP.net. This is a site devoted to pretty much making your Windows PC look fantaaaabulous and modern and spiffy and...well, more mac-like in some cases XD

In the Software Customization section you'll find all kinds of nifty little gadgets to make your XP PC look more Vista-like, or even completely different--and better!--in general.

Get the Vista start menu to display on your XP machine (complete with the pretty little globe instead of "start"), get your windows to display in the 3D flip/filing way Vista's known for, even change your cursors to be Vista cursors and the Vista aero glass support, all for completely free! Get the stability you cling to in XP and the visual awesomeness of Vista all in one pack.

Not satisfied with just changing an icon or two? Want to completely revamp the look? Then my friend there is but one way to go:

Shell Pack (BricoPack) - will completely change the look of your windows, startup screen, and even your icons, while doing absolutely nothing to affect your OS or programs, kind of like just painting your car a new color. A tutorial for installing these can be found here. It's quite easy and very safe -- I used them for years and would still be doing so had my laptop not already come with Vista, kind of defeating the purpose 8D;;

And oh! Forgot to mention -- all Brico Packs come with Object Dock (I don't believe simple shell packs come with this, only the fully-pimped out Brico Packs do). Object Dock is a Windows version of the Mac widget toolbar ever-present on Mac desktops. It's not as OS-linked as a Mac toolbar, however, but is equally useful :) Once you've installed it, it's very easy to add applications to the dock, and if you're not satisfied with the icons available with it, you can download millions of custom icons for popular software here by searching the gallery ^__^

These aren't heavy things that'll slow down your computer (if at all -- personally I never noticed any difference) and any potential problems you might encounter can almost certainly be solved in the very-active forums :)

Give it a shot! It's definitely cheaper than upgrading or buying a new system ^_~