I'm REALLY surprised to read this statement on an enthusiast forum. Most everybody I know (from computer layman to expert) would probably agree with "My computer is among the few things in my life that HAS to work. A few days of downtime, let alone a month, would be a serious problem."
That you think a month is okay, especially for an enthusiast, speaks volumes for how bad computer service has become and our how expectations have adjusted accordingly (e.g. forget repairing, just chuck it and get a new one).
This is why I ended up with an ipad instead of the transformer.
Like the OP, I work in the field of research and have worked in small/medium sized research centers. Sometimes the IT budgets in these places is small, and a their "IT guys" are part time undergraduate students. A lot of them come in and say "Why are we getting stuff from Dell/HP/Lenovo/Apple? I could build computers for cheaper and repair them myself"
At that point I have the discussion about how much money is lost when a computer is down, especially if a computer is down for more than a day or two. Once I throw in the headaches with software licenses, clueless employees, and the higher ups pointing fingers, they realize the differences between costs and downtime in the home versus the office.
Hey man, I never said I worked in research. That was somebody else. There are a lot of stories on here and they're not all from the same person.
Also: ignore Old Hippie, he's just trying trolling and trying to start a flame war and increase post count.