Toastie: I work in IT.
Oh, so you fix people’s computers?
Toastie: No.
My two-year-old HP Pavilion laptop developed a crack in the screen hinge. I lived with it for a couple of months. I could have tried to send it in under the two-year warranty I had. But I didn’t want to go without it for a few weeks. I’d live with it. Well, a couple of days ago, the crack got a lot worse. The screen half broke off from the rest of the laptop.
My solution: duct tape.
My solution: FAIL.
My back-up plan: buy a new laptop.
My back-up plan: fiscally irresponsible.
Plan C: grab the nice 19-inch monitor from the old desktop that I never use.
Plan C: WIN.
See, I don’t know how to fix anything, with the possible exception of broken Remedy workflow, and you have no idea what means, nor should you, since it’s not exactly an in-demand skill.
bullcitydave 
Wow, that’s the first duct tape fail I’ve seen.
And I know what that means! 😀
FWIW, the hubbie has had excellent experiences with HP customer service/tech. The first laptop: he called, an empty box was here in two days, he sent off the laptop; three days later, it returned — not just with the requested repair, but with the worn buttons replaced, etc.
The second laptop: almost identical experience.
They’re two for two in our household for speedy turnaround on repairs.
(Note that I gracefully ignored the blaspheming against duct tape.)
So I really screwed up by now getting it to HP before the warranty was up. (Not going to do it now that it would cost an arm and a leg). However, the new setup may be a blessing in disguise. If I hookup a keyboard, I can put the laptop inside the ottoman and sort-of have less clutter.
No, THAT is funny. I love your post.