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OMG Y'all,  So I inherited my brother's NICE BIG ASS monitor.  I picked it up Wednesday and attached it to my poor ANCIENT (literally 18 year old) Sony Vaio Laptop running XP.  That's what I am using up here. I have replaced this computer 4 times, and 4 times I have come back to this computer because it has generally continued to plug away at it's job while one after another computer has stopped working properly for whatever reason, or just won't properly run (admittedly in some cases 'outdated) programs that I still use (also because they work better and are less of a hassle than their modern counterparts.) For example: Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.  Yes. I do know that there are other graphics programs out there, but I have been using this one since Paint Shop Pro 5 was considered top notch and Paint Shop Pro 7 was the last one that I liked.  Version 8 ran sloooooow... and was just too bogged down to be useful and I didn't like it at all.  Then Corel took it from Jasc and when I saw what they did to it in the next release after that, and the PRICE!! I noped right out of there and have continued to happily use my PSP which I own.  Now PSP for the most part works just fine, but I often end up with a weird pop-up that every time I get a new computer and have to reinstall it, gives me grief and I have to look up how to get it to go away.  Office 2003 also. I have a copy of Office 2010 too, but I don't like the layout and the stupid changes they made with the "ribbon" instead of nice neat adaptable menus.  (and being honest, I don't know where my CDs are for it because I didn't like it enough to put them someplace obvious! Lol) I'm not trying to be a luddite here. I used to build and repair computers for a living.  I just don't like when a good piece of software becomes a bloated mess full of junk I don't need, that I can't opt out of.  More recently, my computers have wanted me to buy "Office 360" and store my data on the cloud. That's a hard NO for me too.  If it's just an option, I don't need it.  If it's not, it's absolutely not desirable.

So here's the thing about me and software.  A LOT of my adult life was spent barely making ends meet, so choosing to buy a piece of software with my actual money was a big big deal.  So you know, in 2005 say, when Corel took over Jasc, that $80 price tag was SHOCKINGLY HIGH to me.   It doesn't seem like that much now, but it's also almost $20 years later and the value of money has changed.  I also make a lot more, so it seems like less, but I still look at some software and say "Who wants to pay that much for something when I have an older version that works JUST FINE?"

Long rant - Skip to here: I paid a lot for my Sony Vaio and it's been worth it to get 18 solid years of service out of it. I could put it down and never turn it on for years, and then pick it up, stick it in my backpack and take off somewhere, and KNOW it was going to work perfectly. That's still true. But now, I'm running into issues where more and more things that I DO need aren't supporting Windows XP... so that means, no Chrome browser, no Firefox, no DRIVER updates... ABSOLUTELY NO NEW DRIVERS FOR ANYTHING NEW WILL BE AVAILABLE.

SO did I have problems with getting my brother's monitor working correctly on it? Yes I did. lol. I have fought with it for 5 days on and off trying to get the computer to acknowledge that the stretched out display it is giving me is in fact NOT correct. Today I finally figured out that part of the problem was that it was forcing a setting to 60hz that should have been 75hz and that issue is corrected and the monitor looks lovely now.

However, I am starting to work on sucking it up and admitting that I'm going to have to say goodbye to The Dragonette and get another computer for up here, and I'm not buying another HP... I just wish I had some way of buying a computer and KNOWING that it's not going to be preloaded with 8 tonnes of bulky bullshite that I don't want or need, and another craptonne of lies "click on this to use THIS program that you want" only Oh BTW, you have to purchase it before you can use it even though it says it's here for you. Ugh.

Anyone have suggestions?

P.S. No. I don't want an apple product or any other proprietary blends for my computing.  If I could buy and android computer on the other hand, and just download the apps I want, that might be a consideration, but I must have a DVD/R drive.  I made that mistake with my last computer, and it's annoying having to use the external one, for sure.

Thanks for reading! Ranty ranty rant.