Teen Tech Triage

The "?" on the tiny file folder in the center of our iMac's screen was an obituary: the hard drive had mysteriously -- and permanently -- died.

Sellers of computer extended warranties, beware. We use ours. Almost nothing on our iMac is original, except the screen. Now, though, we're out of warranty. The estimate? $300.

Our 16-year-old broke the news by cell phone, on his way to Fry's.



By mid-day, he'd installed a new 500GB hard drive and an extra GB of RAM. Total cost: $120.

Surprised? Don't be.

There were early clues.