Okay. You guys are great. Clearly the collective wisdom is not to throw money at the problem - but figure the problem out. Owbist - in my thread on not connecting my husband's vista laptop to our network, I tried quietly, methodically to troubleshoot the issues - to no avail. I found lots of similar frustrations on google - but no solutions that worked - and I think I tried them all - at least to the best of my ability. thanks for those great, easy-to-follow instructions to transfer to an external hard drive. He'll want to do that anyway - even if he keeps this computer. This computer guy is pricey - but where I am in DC they seem to fall in the $125-140/hour range - and they can usually fix a problem. Others that charge $40-75 - that the uninformed think are good - but their know-how is less than what I find here. I tried a few of those locally recommended guys - and they accomplished the simple tasks but also made mistakes I had to hire the more expensive guy to fix. My main complaint with him is that he's wedded to his biases - he hates Vista - so his recommendation is usually to avoid or ditch it. Our struggles with Vista seem to often be how often we're blocked from things or performing simple tasks have all sort of obstacles - for "safety's" sake. Thanks to everyone for pointing out that Windows 7 is just a revamped Vista. I got my first issue of Smart Computing and they were tauting it and described some features I thought I'd love. DA - if W8 is in process, is there any indication of what it will be like? Probably worth waiting for - or at least waiting to hear more about how Windows 7 is panning out. So I'll keep plugging away on my other thread to get him connected. If I don't succeed by Tuesday, the computer guy will come and fix it. I guess we'll stop there. Thanks. Lynn.

Good advice from DA. Prices have plummeted for entry level laptops, they're cheaper than ever. If buying a refurb, compare the price to a new one to be sure there's a savings involved. Computer makers add many onboard component upgrades to juice the price (because margins are low on the basic machines). Many of these upgrades are unnecessary for an average user, a basic machine might fill the bill. Buying something with fewer features is a way to save money too. Just like with outlet stores or other retail stores, the fact that it "looks" like a good deal doesn't necessarily mean that it is.

There are few software products that need more power than a good laptop, either Windows or Apple, require. That's a LAPTOP, not a TABLET. People do confuse the two and they are very different things. Heavy duty photo editing and CAD usually do require a desktop. Also, some business proprietary software may as well. Many colleges offer free Microsoft Word. Windows is already installed on most PC computers, laptop or desktop. It's Word that is free - free for as long as the student is enrolled. By that time (4-5 years), they will probably be buying a new computer/software anyway. My DGS's college-to-be does this. maifleir, I strongly advise your NIECE to look on the U of Seattle's website, for computer requirements/recommendations. It will be there, I promise. And the niece better start learning how to find such info or college is going to be a big challenge! No more "mom" doing things for her! Also, look at the prices on their Bookstore website. At Cornell, the laptop that I will most likely be buying my DGS, is $200 less than it would be on Apple's website. As the time for students arriving draws closer, they may have some "package offers" - free or heavily discounted printer with computer deals - they did when DD arrived there 27 years ago! Unfortunately, they were far more expensive than what the money her grandparents had given her, would buy, so we did not take up that offer. We're going to wait until a week or so before he goes to college to buy and he can pick it up in the bookstore when he gets there.

We sent our kids away to college with the PC type of their own choice, the PC being a HS graduation gift. My oldest daughter chose to get a Macbook and has been an iPhone/Macbook user ever since. She's the only devoted Mac user in the family, another kid alternates and the others don't use Apple products. The oldest is now a 30-something professional. She has never gone more than 3 years with a Mac without having a catastrophic problem and a number of times it's been almost annually. Fried motherboards (several times), crashed and non-functional hard drives (several times), a delaminated display (once), complete battery failures (several times), and other things I don't remember. She always gets the maximum available extended warranty (and laughs about needing it) but buys a new unit before the warranty expires or soon after any major problem. She's moved several times in her adult life and one of the essential bits of info when moving to a new area is to find where the Apple Stores are. She considers herself to have been serially unlucky with Macs but prefers them all the same. She can well afford to replace these things as frequently as she has to. She gets longer useful lives from her iPhones but I think replaces them at about 3 years. Do I consider this to be indicative of something? Not necessarily. Technology products from any manufacturer have exceptional individuals and lemons and everything in-between. It's funny she's had consistently bad luck with hardware quality. Apple's products aren't anything special when it comes to manufacturing or component quality.