UNITED STATES—I have gotten to a point in my life where I hate technology. As much as it simplifies my life, it complicates things at the exact same time. You wouldn’t believe this if I told you, but here it goes: I have purchased two laptops within the last 5 years. Making the situation worse is that I’m going to have to purchase a third laptop any day now. Yes, it is a tough pill to swallow and I’m starting to suspect that technology is not made to last a lifetime.

My biggest gripe is the first laptop, I’m responsible for breaking because of slow internet; in actuality I should have given the bill to my internet provider and have them pay for it. However, I took the $300 lost, which sucked majorly for me. So now I’m in the market for a new laptop 2 years ago. I really had no idea what I wanted, but I knew I wanted something that would last. So I visit ABC Warehouse, I’ll be honest I’m not a fan of this establishment because they just don’t seem very well versed in the world of computers and laptops if you ask me. Not to mention the fact that I suspected they were overly priced on their items.

I guess the one caveat would be that I had a credit card with the company. My instinct told me to go to Best Buy to purchase my laptop. I mean I purchased a desktop from the establishment nearly a decade ago and it still works fine, so I trust their products to a degree. However, I decided otherwise, I ended up purchasing a $500 HP laptop. It might be the worst mistake of my life.

I don’t know how to shake the feeling, but I immediately sensed something wasn’t right with the laptop. Not sure if it was me having buyer’s remorse or what, but the mouse on the laptop was always doing what it wanted instead of what I wanted it to do. Less than a year later, my screen starts to peel apart. This frustrated me greatly because I never dropped my laptop, so I had no idea what was going on.

Here is this laptop that I cannot close, it has to stay up. If I try to close it the screen will fracture and fall apart. Yes, you can understand my utter frustration at this point. The warranty was only good for a year, and it seems these retailers purposely ensure the warranty doesn’t last more than 5 years because they know they would be forced to replace the item for the customer. There was only one time that I can recall where a warranty actually served its purpose for me: that is when I purchased my first Apple iPod.

The warranty was only $15.00, but I’m glad I did it; otherwise I would have been stuck with a $150 device that did not work. Why is this important? The device froze and stopped working after a week. I didn’t drop it or anything, but the key was I was able to go into the store and get a new Apple iPod, brand new in a box, no questions asked. That is the type of warranty I like, one where you don’t have to deal with the red tape. I paid for the warranty, give me a new item if the one I have defaulted, that’s the purpose of the warranty, not to question what happened or what you did.  If that was the case, why the hell purchase a warranty to begin with.

So my current laptop, which is on its last life, out of the blue, the keyboard stops working! Now I’m livid, this $500 piece of equipment has been an utter nightmare and I cannot wait to replace it. However, the new laptop that I plan to purchase has to have certain expectations for me. I know I’m NEVER purchasing a HP laptop as long as I live, I have no intention of spending more than $250 for a laptop, but I want something of quality, but something that will LAST more than 3 years, heck I want the laptop to last minimum 5 years if not longer!

I see why people get frustrated with technology cause it seems to never last longer than what it should. I’m not trying to purchase a TV, a cellphone or a laptop every year. Who has the money to do that? I know I don’t, I know Americans don’t and making the situation worse is that it’s likely to never change. The corporations will continue to make mediocre products so the consumers are spending money month after month, year after year to get an updated product or replace one that has become defunct.

Written By Kelsey Thomas