Dark corner on the screen of my g60 - how long?

This problem has only started happening within the past week. I first noticed when powering on my laptop that the fan was running louder than usual and the screen flickered once or twice and then proceeded to run normally. Skip ahead a few days and the entire screen would go dark but not black on start up - as if the backlight had failed, as I could still faintly see my desktop wallpaper. After a few minutes the screen returned to normal. Now today I turned it on and the screen went dark again. It evened out after a few minutes again, but this time the screen would very subtly flicker until I turned the screen brightness down. After an hour or so I tried turning the brightness back up and I noticed the crawling black blotch in the bottom right corner of my screen that was very hot to the touch that appeared only when I had the brightness turned up.

So here's my question: I know that it's either a problem with the inverter, or even worse LCD CCFL, going bad. However, I don't have the money to replace or repair it at the moment and I need this computer for work. How long do you think the problem will persist in a way that leaves my laptop in a damaged but usable state until I can afford to fix it? Has anyone had this problem and can give me any suggestions on how to prolong the inevitable repair? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Not sure if you are still around as you posted a month ago.

For the benefit of others...I'm dealing with this on a friends Acer right now. The CCFL is probably cracked. On the Acer the right corner gets hot to the touch if the light even comes on. When it gets hot the corner will get black. I'm afraid you'll need to purchase a new screen. How long it lasts is anyones guess.