Maybe?

Hours on the phone with Lenovo: ~72, but who’s counting?
In-home technician visits: 5
New motherboards: 4
Additional parts replaced: several (fan, power supply, other components I can’t pronounce)

Months of incessant calls before I scored the promise of a refund: 4
Months it took to actually obtain said refund towards new machine: 2
Phone messages left in the interim begging for call-back: ~63
Emails for same purpose: ~41
Minor meltdowns: 3
Days new machine ran before rendering itself inoperable: 3 (thank you, Windows 10)
Percent satisfaction with Microsoft, supporting their new OS: 0% (lower if I could figure out how)
Percent satisfaction with Lenovo’s handling of bum machine: 100%
Days it took to get machine #3 into my hands: 10 (8 days to get to the US from China, a brief holding in Kentucky, an inexplicable trip to Anchorage, Alaska, some more holding in Louisville, and finally to my door. At least my computer got to tour Alaska.)
Hours hanging out on the phone with my new friend Carl as he limped me through the terrifying process of setting this one up without an explosion: 2
Confidence that the adventure is over: Iffy, very iffy.
Confidence that new friend Carl can rescue me when things go south: 100%

It’s been a shockingly long road, but I think I have a working laptop. Could it be that the computer war is over? I dare to even speak the words. Great fear and trepidation. Fingers are crossed, and with any luck, I won’t be reporting back with any further battles.

For the record, the haul was long with Lenovo, but in the end, they backed up their products and I am happy. Could have been smoother, but beggars can’t be choosers!

Happy to be back,
KJ