MAC Death Aftermath

So the mac is back, there were a few replacements "upgrades?" done and it is now working well but yeah... I'm not a good person with backups so all my info is gone, I'm also surprised the claim nothing was recoverable.
Sadly the backup of my pics are a lower resolution images on facebook, my pictures I had saved on yahoo where trashed when yahoo setup flickr >.< I only have the Canada trip saved on picassa.
What about work data you say?
I always keep all my work in Purdue's PCs. Even if I work on the mac I eventually transfer the final files to their PCs.

So in the end my life has changed as follow:
-My memories have been downgraded to lower resolution.
-I'll have to revisit libraries... for the audiobooks I lost.
-I have no longer KeyNote or Pages. (Open office here we go)
-On the next laptop I shall have extended warranty.
-I managed to steal them a new Startup Disk (or so they say it will eventually arrive).
and finally:
-I am debating what my next computer shall be. No matter the computer I should be backing up. If it was windows base I might have more resources to fix it myself, and if I can't I have more choices near by to fix it.
If it is Mac I will probably have to resort to mailing it, depending where I'll be, and instead of saying goodbye to my earnings on repairs I should say goodbye earlier on warranties. The Mac service was prompt and good yet it still bugs me that I couldn't fix it on sight... and the PRICE!! ,and my PCs never died so horribly (But this could be more of a desktop vs laptop issue).
Maybe I just have to learn more about Mac troubleshooting, cause it will eventually happen no matter what Stynky and their adds say.

Or should I go Linux? Problem is, there is even LESS games for that plataform :P