Fix Laptop Or Buy New?

[Johnniey]

I bought a Dell laptop nearly 2 years ago and it's broken - needs a new mainboard(motherboard).

They want 3500 baht for it.

Is it worth repairing? Maybe if I fix it, it will only have a limited life.

I guess I can buy a similar new one for 20,000 baht.

What would you do?

I'm not rich, btw

[bino]

Fix it. 3500 ain't much, esp if you aren't rich. Laptop motherboard usually runs about ten grand.

[Darrel]

That price is very low. Surprisingly so in fact.

I would definitely go for the repair on a 2 year old laptop at that price.

[dddave]

Are you really sure it's a bad motherboard? Computer repair shops cry "Motherboard" like car repair shops cry "Transmission".

As I reported on another thread, I had a Viao that died and was told "Motherboard". Sometime later, without any repair it started back up and now runs fine; probably an intermittent problem with the power switch.

[draftvader]

If you are paying them B3,500 to replace the motherboard then you could consider a RAM upgrade at the same time. Being that they will have to get all the parts out to change the motherboard you will only be paying the cost of the RAM, rather than the RAM and a fitting fee. It will make your laptop feel faster and newer and still come in WAY under the B20,000 mark. Remember that most new laptops come with limited 1 year warranties anyway (unless you pay for an extension) so new laptops aren't all that different to upgraded 2 year old laptops.

On another note I concur with dddave's comment. A motherboard error is very similar to a RAM error to the untrained (or can't be bothered) eye. Have you run any diagnostics yourself?

[richard_smith237]

Quite a while ago now (4 lap tops ago actually !!)... my ASUS lap top died on me. The shop (In Miri Malaysia) had it for 3 weeks but couldn't fix it.

So, I decided to find out how a lap top works and took it apart (totally). I was quite surprised then that when I put it back together it worked perfectly !!

It turns out the motherboard has simply worked loose and did so repeatedly every few months or so.

Thus, depending of the extent or type of failure you are experiencing - There could be a very simply fix such as loose motherboard !!!

[ETatBKK]

not sure which Dell model you have, just THB3,500 for fixing a 2-year old Dell notebook, go for it.

indeed, it may be some other stuffs. check it out before the Dell tech replaces the motherboard for any minor issue.

[astral]

Is this diagnosis from the Dell centre?

They are the experts!!

1800-006-007 is the number to call for help,

[necronx99]

If you are confindent in opening the case (assuming you have it and it's not in the shop) use an indelible marker to make a small mark on the mainboard. 3500 is very cheap for both parts an labour for this job.

IT could also be that the shop has some junked laptops of the same model and is going to swap in a used mainboard.

[manarak]

I too don't believe in 3500 for a new motherboard.

In fact, replacing just a GPU chip runs about 4000-6000.

So... they could have figured the northbridge just needs a new heatsink or something similar.

I'd go with the repair. Usually, the shops guarantee the repair for the same fault for 3 months.

I know a reliable repair shop at panthip plaza.

[Darrel]

The OP mentioned a Dell laptop needing a new motherboard and "they" wanting 3500B to do the job. From that I infer that Dell quoted 3500B to replace the motherboard.

That is a very good price from an official service department that has nothing to gain by not doing the job correctly.

If "they" is someone else then that's a different matter entirely.

[Johnniey]

I took the computer to the Dell Centre and they quoted 5000 baht. I then took it to another place who quoted 3500.

I went back and they said if I didn't get it fixed there was a 300 baht service charge!

I asked if they could do it for 3000 and they said yes so I agreed as only really paying 2700 baht!

thanks for the replies.

[astral]

Let us know if the repair is successful