Wayne, sorry to hear that. For whatever it's worth I'm a big fan of ThinkPads -- but they are now Lenovo and I have no knowledge of whether they have maintained the quality that IBM put into them. I gave up buying new laptops since they have become suitcases for junk software and the good ones carry a premium price. Have been buying refurbished laptops with great results and have saved a bundle of money. Eritech (
https://www.eritech.com/) - down in your neighborhood - has given me good service and they have a big choice of machines.
The other good thing about buying a refurb is that you won't get vista foisted on you.
Jim