Never a good sign when you smell burning plastic coming from computer. Upon inspection found some small flames coming from the junction between the computer & power supply. No panic, cut off power. Luckily all of my documents & photos are backed up on multiple external hard drives. Looks like I'm going computer shopping today. Starting with the recycled electronics store. If they don't have anything, on to Best Buy who have several on sale for the holidays. D'oh!
I did really well this time. I go to a store called RE PC. They recycle electronics & refurbish computers so it's luck of the draw. I got an older model Dell XPS for under $200. Came with Windows 10 Pro, JBL speakers, great video & graphics. The new ones are over $1000 more. This is about perfect for my needs. I wasn't planning on a new computer but am pleased how this turned out. They also pulled the data from the old computer & recycled it for no charge. This has the Mort seal of approval! PS: obviously I'm not a tech head haha. I generally know what's a good deal though.