In the same way a good mechanic can keep an old car running like new, an experienced, technical-minded person can usually extend the life of an older computer, or boost the performance of lesser components. They can also usually configure a no-name brand computer to work just as well if not better. A good operating system optimized properly will work for most general tasks (business work, surfing the Web, music, etc.), even if the hardware is a little dubious. I made a similar assumption when I purchased a generic tablet running Android 2.1 on eBay, thinking I'd save some cash by taking matters into my own hands. Man, did that assumption come back to bite me, hard. Read on to find out how.