Vaio Tx help please

So here's the story. I've had a vaio tx for 1.5 years and I love it. I've treated it like gold, never dropped or abused it in any way. About a week ago I fired it up and there was a little line at the bottom of the screen. It sort of looked like a crack but I didn't think much of it at first. Now its Branched out to all four corners of the screen and it looks like little lightning bolts. I'm pretty sure that they're cracks but I cant understand how they could have happened, are the TX screens this fragile? But thats not all. Now the battery only lasts for maybe a half hour even on the most economical setting, it was getting between 4 and 5 hours last week. To me it seems unlikely that these problems could be related but They did come up at exactly the same time so I'm not sure. Is it possible that there's a problem with the software that monitors battery life? Obviously I'm going to have to have this serviced, as its past warranty should I take it to Sony, or is it possible to take it somewhere else because I think Sony will be very expensive. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions, this is beyond frustrating.

I really don't think you have a software problem, I think it's all hardware. If the "cracks" are getting bigger I don't think your screen is cracking.  You would see a discoloration of the screen where it's cracked.  Sounds more like your video card crapping out on you.