ACER

WHEN YOU WALK INTO A COMPUTER REPAIR SHOP THE LAST THING YOU WANT TO HEAR IS, "BLACK SCREEN" OR "BLUE SCREEN".

FOR ME IT WAS "BLACK SCREEN" WHICH MEANS THE MONITOR PART OF THE LAPTOP WAS DEAD. IT COULD BE THE VIDEO CARD, OR THE SCREEN, EITHER WAY IT'S HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS IN REPAIR, AND IN THESE DAYS OF DISPOSABLE ELECTRONICS, YOU JUST TOSS IT OUT AND BUY A NEW ONE.

WELL THE COMPUTER TECH JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE A NEW ACER LAPTOP ON THE SHELF. IN OUR NEGOTIATIONS HE OFFERED TO LOAD ON MICROSOFT OFFICE WHICH IS WORTH A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS SO I BOUGHT A NEW ACER.

NOW I DIDN'T HAVE MY CREDIT CARD IN MY POCKET, SO WHILE MARY DROVE HOME TO GET IT, AND THERE WERE NO OTHER CUSTOMERS IN THE SHOP, JOHN, THE COMPUTER TECH, FIRED UP MY NEW 'PUTER AND LOADED UP THE SOFTWARE, REMOVED NORTON, UPLOADED AVG VIRUS SOFTWARE, AND PUT ON MY GOOGLE TOOL BAR, AND THE NEW ACER GOT 28 MICROSOFT UPDATES UPLOADED AND INSTALLED.

ALL IN ALL I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH THE DEAL AND SO THE "HAPPY CAMPERS" BLOG WILL CONTINUE. DOWNSIDE IS THAT I'M FINALLY GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE VISTA OPERATING SYSTEM AND KISS XP GOODBYE. THANK GOD MARY BOUGHT "VISTA FOR DUMMIES", A 350 PAGE REFERENCE BOOK I'LL HAVE GLUED TO MY ARM THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

SINCE IT'S JUST THE MONITOR IN THE OLD COMPUTER I'LL BE ABLE TO RECOVER MY CHECKBOOK, PICTURE FILES, AND ALL THE OTHER DATA OUT OF THE OLD GATEWAY COMPUTER (I HOPE).

MY OPINION OF LAPTOP COMPUTERS HASN'T CHANGED. THEY DON'T LAST AS LONG AS THE DESKTOP MODELS. THE GATEWAY LAPTOP I HAD, DIDN'T LAST TWO YEARS. I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I USED IT HARD, IT LIVED IN MY BACKPACK FLYING AND TRAVELLING ALL OVER. IN MY LIFE STYLE I JUST NEED A LAPTOP TO GO AND FIND WI-FI HOT SPOTS, SIT OUTSIDE BY THE FIRE AND TYPE, AND IT TAKES UP A LOT LESS SPACE IN THE RV.