just to give you an idea of costs for if you only added a new hard drive and another gig of Ram.

I don't know what the labor costs would be in NY though, or the exact cost of the parts.
but here is approximate costs in my area.

HD - depending on size of course - 80G -46.00 to 500 G - 64.00 and up

Memory - they would have to know the details of your system to get the correct kind and probably would be best to get a matched 2 G set - prices run from 32 - 99.00 here.

It is pretty simple to install a hard drive and memory so it shouldn't cost much by way of labor at all.

Looks like you can order them on the website too- plus lots more info about the whole recovery Cd process.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07143

if you go that route, next step, once those are installed

would be to decide if you want a new install of windows on the new drive and then keep the old HD and OS as spare { it can stay in the machine and stay connected, but you wouldn't use it, except to get or store files}

When I was working on a Compaq/hp I called and requested a replacement CD of their windows XP OS - in was only 18 bucks!
just had to have the serial number and answer a few questions.

If you don't have restore CDs or they don't work, that is what you will probably need to do.

actually that might be the thing to do anyway, just to have it already in case you decide to do it this way.