great pre-slr camera, but...

ok, lets start of by saying i love this camera, I'm a photo student, so im constantly comparing my camera to the cameras the other kids in the class have nikon D50s and canon rebel xts. Seriously, i dont give up much to those entry level SLRs, and usually i find i have the better camera, or atleast the camera i most want to have. picture quality is good if you keep the ISO low, otherwise you get alot of noise at 800 and above. Lens for a 400 dollar camera is fantastic, amazing range and decent optics, slight purple fringing, but nothing drastic: and it's fast too even all the way zoomed. plus the macro mode is fantastic, lets see a slr kit lens do that. sure, the RAW speeds are just awful (but picture quality improves immesurably if can wait it out: the files are like 20megs too (why? no idea), and the auto focus isnt the quickest, but you can shoot through the screen, which in my opinion allows for way more options if you want that shot thats not from your eye. (me, i like to shoot candid street shots from my hip with the screen 90 degrees up at me). ::::BUT::: my camera broke. and not from neglect, dropping, etc. it was in my camera bag, i took it out, was carrying it around and, CLINK, the control wheel falls off. yes, it FELL OFF. not good. so now i have a camera that only shoots in Auto mode. LAME.
So, if you get this camera, please be careful, its a great camera for the price if you cant afford a SLR, but its build quality aint up to snuff. next camera, Sony a100, or the new samsung thats supposed to come out that has the image stabilisation also. IS would sure be nice.