Gary, I am on the low end of the social security pay pecking order and I have to plan ahead to update 2 times per year,but this is what I enjoy more than any of my hobbies. What I want to mention is , when my HP pavilion i7 was about out of of factory waranty, I had a $2.00 goodwill table lamp near my computer. The lamp did the clasic goose neck crash onto the screen. When I returned, I had a burned spot about the size of a golf ball at the upper bezel,camera lense fell out and screen burned. Then my key board pad started not reacting to normal touch. I was told by the local Staples tech. than it was doable to replace the pad myself without a lot of hassle and the cost wasn't that much. Maybe you should check that out before you leave it at a repair shop. I should also mention that HP replace everything under factory warranty. The HD came back as new from the factory. I wasn't planning on a HD reset, so I lost everything. I didn't make a copy. It could be that a key pad problem is not just the key pad. The other option is a wireless key pad. By all means don't let the rifle get away. Leon