$191 Monitor (including tax) from Costco

I've had my Toshiba Satellite laptop since 2004. That means, by computer age, my laptop is pretty obsolete. I have been meaning to check out and buy a new laptop but I wanted to wait until Microsoft Vista's kinks have been all worked out. And I also wanted some time to research on getting a laptop that weighs less than what seems like 10 kzillion pounds.

2 weeks ago, though, I had to change my plans. Every morning around 6, I fire up my laptop. I can't check my personal emails from work so I have got into the habit of checking my emails early in the morning before I go to work. But on June 1, 2007 (demise of your computer leaves an indelible impression), I fired up my laptop... I heard the little hard drive cranking... and NOTHING! Just big fat black screen stared back at me. So I did what any technician would tell me to do whenever you call one up -- I shut down my computer, waited a little bit, and fired up again. The little hard drive cranked itself up... but once again, NOTHING on my screen!! I panicked. How was I supposed to check all my emails? (Yes, more than one email)

I went to work, came back home for lunch, and started calling a few folks listed in the yellow pages under computer repair. Basically, I was told that my LCD is gone and it's not worth fixing it for a computer this old (only 3 years!). For the money it would take to fix the computer, the repair guy said I might as well just go buy a new one.

Well, needless to say, I wondered which computer I should buy that night (literally). Because, really, how can I live without my computer and internet access?? In despair, I called my sister at work, and she came up with a brilliant solution -- buy a new monitor to hook up to my laptop and wait to buy my laptop until later after I've researched.

So after work, I went to Costco to check out their monitors. I purposefully chose Costco because you can return any electronics within 90 days, no questions asked. If the new monitor hook-up didn't work, I wanted to return it. I ended up buying a 19 inch, wide screen, flat panel LCD Viewsonic monitor -- for $169. With California E-WST fee (no idea what that means but I assume it's something to do with recycling) and 7.75% sales tax, I got an awesome 19 inch monitor for $191. It's also supposed to be able to show HD TV and is quite bright.

I hooked it up to my laptop... and it's working brilliantly! I'm not happy I had a sudden unforeseen expense of $200, but I'm stoked I can (1) see everything via bigger monitor and (2) don't have to incur a sudden unforeseen expense of $1,000.

I would take a picture of my laptop sitting under this beautiful monitor, but I think I also need a new digital camera. How come everything goes out of whack at the same time?