My digital camera shot craps last night. [View all]

[lastlib]

Was getting ready to take some pics after a dinner and it came on with a "Lens Error" message on the screen; won't do anything else now. Only way I can even shut it off is to pull out the battery. It's a Nikon Coolpix 4800, about 7 yrs old. Doubt it can be repaired, and it's probably cheaper to just ditch it and buy a new one.

So my question to this group is: what would be a good general-purpose digital camera to buy these days? the old one had about 4megapixel field, and while it was a decent general-purpose camera, it had shitty battery life IMO, and didn't seem to be a "fast" camera--it seemed to take a long time to refresh between shots. I really don't know jack about photography in general, I just want a decent camera that takes pretty good photos. I figured this would be a good place to get some recommendations/advice. I don't have a lot of $$ to spend on one right now, and may not have for the near future (i.e., until I get a decent job.)

Would appreciate any suggestions/guidance, DU!