your spaces, o my sisters and brothers!

I have a new computer! With a spacebar, and everything. The "everything" in this instance includes a great big 15" screen and a loud fan that starts up at irregular intervals whether I'm doing anything with the computer or not. It includes bunches of software I have no use for, wireless connectivity I don't want (and have turned off 4 times so far -- I need to find better ways to turn it off), and no software I actively want except Wordpad. I am currently using IExplorer and installing more useful things.

It's a laptop, because laptops tend to come with non-flickery screens and built-in touchpads. I'm unhappy with this one so far, because the screen flickers. I tried increasing the resolution (Control Panel/Display/Settings/Advanced/Monitor), but there aren't any choices other than 60Hz. And typing is awfully uncomfortable, even with the built-in touchpad, even with the spacebar. At first I thought it was just uncomfortable because it was too high, but I'm sitting on pillows and it isn't helping.

Does it look like I'm describing problems that are fixable, or like I need to take this back to the store and get another computer? If the former, suggestions would be very welcome.

the other important question of the day

Should I make peanut butter cookies? Or banana bread? Chocolate chips are a possibility in either case, but I have versions of both that are quite good without.