Alas, the end is nigh

The laptop is reaching the end of it’s life. It’s had the buzzing problem for a bit & the new HD failed to help. It over heats. It clicks and groans. It takes forever to load anything. every program freezes at some point.

Two days ago it started just shutting down at random, generally when the CPU is running a bit.

I’ve found a new one & hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get it. Supposedly it is in stock at a Best Buy an hour away, not the easy to get to one south of us, but the one in traffic hell to the east. It has Vista, with free upgrade to Windows 7. It also has 1Gb of virtual memory (I have 128MB now) and 500GB HD (I have 160 now, recently replacing the 80GB one the laptop came with). It has 6GB of RAM (I have 4). It has a build in webcam. I’ve never used a webcam. I have this vague worry videos of me looking at the screen unaware I’m being filmed will end up on You Tube.

I’ll have to reload EVERYTHING.  Just the list of Firefox add ons is daunting, never mind the actual programs. I’ve backed my Firefox data, my documents, my photos, my PSP files, everything else ‘my’ on the computer and all my Outlook email, folders & accounts. I’ve downloaded nearly all the software that can be (ACDSee is proving a problem) & found all the CDs I need.

Except I have Office 2000 and apparently it doesn’t work with Vista, or maybe it won’t work with Win 7.  So that is another however many hundreds of $$. I can get some free programs that do Word & Excel but I need to get Outlook. Thunderbird doesn’t work with my ISP (Though rumor has it at least one employee does use it successfully).

I’ve decided to pay Best Buy to set up the laptop for me and remove all the free trial crap. That is $70. Outlook is about $100 or so. The laptop will be around $1000, depending on what financing we choose (one gives 10% off, another issues cash back based on points, or I could just pay for it, but it’s hard to resist a discount). Gas is about $15 there & back. We’ll be there in the late afternoon so dinner will be at a restaurant like the Crab Shack or Olive Garden or something- another $75 or so. Miscellaneous expenses to keep the kids occupied while the laptop is set up could run as much as $50 if we go to Fun Town.

So about $1400 or so later I’ll be ready to start loading my stuff on my new laptop.

Let’s have a moment’s silence for my old laptop. It saw good service for 4 years & has earned it’s rest.

Let’s have a moment’s silence for my bank account too. I know I am grieving.