If I was mining or gaming I would get it - burning out my CPU is the price that comes with putting such demands on your computer. Like I said I get it!

... but I only use my computer for browsing (including social media), office functions and online meetings with the occasional playing of Civilization V - and that's it.

Anyone and everybody who knows me, knows that I have issues with computers. They simply hate me.

• I had a laptop that had a fan inside, but it was mounted on such a pathetic little spindle that when it gave way the fan stopped spinning and it was overheating - creating a forced shutdown.
• I had one computer that was allergic to electricity. It was fine on battery but whenever I plugged it in I was on borrowed time, before the inevitable freeze that could come 20 seconds or 20 minutes after plug in.
• A beautiful Lenovo machine that was so nice to type on, but it had the last generation of HHD drives that could take an hour and a half to turn on and be fully ready for what I needed it for. This was despite the fact that I disabled all non-essentials from boot by using msconfig. 
• A relatively new HP laptop that died after an HP update! Forget the blue screen of death, I was getting the yellow and white one depending on the mood the computer was on the day - far worse than the blue screen any day. It was a driver issue, but unresolvable. I will never touch another HP ever again!
• My most recent one, an Acer, it did everything I wanted and I really liked it. Only the power connector was such a pathetic weak little thing - not much bigger than that found on standard earphones, that it would often simply fall out, or fail to connect when in. This meant I was heavily reliant on the battery, but then when it came to recharging it was a battle to get it into such a position that that orange charge light was on. The header image is representative and not my actual machine. It was always a fight with it and there was so certain way to make it connect. It was random; sometimes it would connect beautifully and normally and sometimes not at all. I did get it repaired earlier in the year and the repair lasted about four months (work guaranteed for three months). 

My work is heavily reliant on me having almost constant access to my computer so you can see this was a problem. I was hoping to hold out until at least Black Friday, but yesterday I simply could not get the orange light on. It was always going to be a case of when and not if concerning buying a new computer in the next few months. I could have got it repaired again but based on the previous repair I would need to repair it four times a year and at some point that becomes more expensive than getting a new one, especially if replacing every few years anyway. I do not have any issues with the company that carried out the repair, it was simply bad design.

So, yesterday I went out and got a new computer. I had a fair idea of the specs I wanted and funnily enough the most cost effective one was another Acer. However, having learned from experience, the first thing I did in shop was check the connector and I am pleased to say this is a much more solid one, and in fact quite stiff. I hope it will be more durable.

Funnily enough, as I need to transfer files (not a fan of the cloud), when I plugged in the older Acer when I got home the orange light immediately turned on. Like I said though, despite this small victory, it was always going to be a case of when and not if. It might only be a few more days, during which I can have such success. 

I now need to use as much of that battery power - and hopefully plug it in too - to transfer as many files as I can before it finally dies.

Such a shame because other than the power point it was a beautiful computer.

As always stay safe and well my friends.