My PC is dying

Just recently (about the same time I installed the latest Nvidia drivers), a dark band has appeared on the right side of my screen. It goes from top to bottom, and is hard to notice on some black/white backgrounds. However, it seems to be getting worse and is more and more noticeable.

It's weird, because if the background is white or black, the band is almost not noticeable at all, but if it is a color (or even slightly off-white), it becomes very noticeable. Anything in the band is discolored/distorted.

When I take a screenshot, the black band does not show. This seems to be indicative of a hardware problem.

I tried clean installing the old drivers, but the problem persists.

Here is an example image (I created it in Paint.NET to demonstrate what is going on):

It's even worse in a web browser, covering everything from top to bottom.

Is my graphics card dying? Not sure what to do at this point.
Asus G51vx-rx05 with GTX 260M (Laptop)

I'm thinking of getting a cheap netbook with a moderate gaming desktop if I get get enough money.

Think I can get a decent gaming rig for under $1000 (preferably through newegg or something similar)? Should I try to hold out until the Sandy Bridge processors become more mainstream?

If you build yourself a desktop you can easily get a good gaming computer for around $600

did you try reverting drivers to the previous version? and does it actually apply only on some layers? (like the background only in your picture) Or does it apply to all pixels in that band?

I have tried reverting drivers (clean install), but that didn't help.

It applies to all pixels in the band, but on pure white or black, its almost impossible to notice. Kinda confuses me, but I'm pretty sure that part of my screen is just dying.

If its an old Plasma screen it might be that. If your computer is running programs, try video games, internet and all that. Cause on a pure black and white is easiest to produce. The screen might be having issues with a lot of the in between colors

It's a laptop LCD screen.

And its getting worse.

I own a computer/electronics repair shop. In order from most likely to least likely your problem could be the LCD itself, loose/faulty cable, or the video card. Fortunately, laptop LCDs aren't particularly difficult to replace yourself if you're up to it, and you can typically get the replacement part on eBay for less than $100.

Also, should be covered under warranty if you still have one.

Its refurbished, so I don't have a warranty. I'll try opening it up and checking the cables when I get the chance.