Many times over the last few months I have been contacted by laptop users with various hardware faults, mostly the fault is with the with laptop LCD screens. The biggest problem when asked about a cost for a repair is whether or not it is cheaper and quicker for the customer to buy a replacement laptop.
With many new laptops costing less than £300 they are fast becoming disposable items once outside the warranty period. There are also lots of companies offering free laptops to consumers when they purchase other items such as broadband, be it for home use or mobile connectivity.
To repair a faulty laptop it takes time for an engineer to dismantle and diagnose the fault, order the component (which is usually expensive), followed by the time to replace it. The price to carry out this task is either close or more than the actual cost to purchase a replacement laptop.
While IT support is still required for laptops within warranty, it is fast becoming a headache for computer repair companies when dealing with these issues.
So much for a greener environment!
January 3, 2009 at 3:38 am
You can still recycle the parts from the old laptop. I’ve found that people will usually give you their broken laptops if you offer to transfer their data to their new laptop. This can be very lucrative especially if the screens are not broken (but they usually are) Ebay is a great way to get rid of unwanted laptop parts.