Good evening. DR Vixmom, my laptop suffered a slow death. It was to the point where I had to practically say a prayer to the computer gods to get it to boot up. I didn't want Windows 8 because all my other computers are Windows 7, so about 11:00 I ventured to Best Buy. It wasn't too bad at that time crowd wise. Busy, but not oppressively so. Anyway, I got an open box and a good deal on a Toshiba lap top. I'm still getting used to the keyboard, but I think I'm going to like it.