Back when the PC was a new idea, I used to build computers from scratch. Buy a case, a mother board, a video card, a sound card, a hard drive and power supply and build a PC clone. Being careful to choose the right components and I could run PC DOS on it and it would perform like the big boys.

I got out of that business and away from the computer world for about 18 months. As you might surmise, the computer world had changed, cubed. When I came back, I was three generations behind both in hardware and software. I went from being a computer whiz to being barely computer literate.

As a result, the top of the line computer I had built for myself was so archaic that I couldn't even run the latest software. Plus I was living on a shoestring budget, so my computers were what ever I could find on the used/refurbished market. I had a fairly good HP and as computers do, it became simply too slow to do much on the internet, so an acquaintance was in IT and was replacing a lot of business machines and had some gently used 286 computers. I acquired one for a song. The problem was the 286 was near the end of it's useful life time. I limped along on that computer for several years until I had a better paying job. It became apparent that in order to continue using the internet, I needed something newer.

This time, I did some research and found a company that was building custom machines. I put together about $1200 dollars and got a state-of-the-art, cutting edge computer that could use my existing monitor and keyboard. The next year I replace the monitor (an old CRT) with a flat screen. Since then, I've replace the keyboard twice. But the computer is still functional. It has become my wife's computer. She doesn't require as much sophistication in hardware as I do. Just before I retired, my wife observed that our sharing that computer wouldn't work, because she had free use of it in the daytime and monopolized it in the evening. When I retired, she thought I'd need a laptop. So again, I did the research. I really didn't like most laptops I had seen, because the keyboards were cramped and it was hard to attain any kind of comfortable technique for a touch typist. The hunt and peck people really didn't notice, but I did. I ended up with a 17" Lenovo. That was nearly 4 years ago and I still love the computer. Again, I didn't let price dictate what I bought, but got a computer that would last. The only problem I've had with it was the headphone jack went belly up, so I got some Bluetooth headphones... problem solved. I needed new headphones anyway,