Laptop repair question and advice, please:

[Bunny]

I bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop about 18 months ago, paid $600 for it new. The inverter board and back light are dead. The cost to replace them would be around $175. Does this sound like a reasonable repair cost, and is it normal for something like this to go bad so soon? Of course, it's out of warranty.

Would you computer folks advise getting it fixed, or not? I wasn't really looking to buy a new laptop right now, but I don't want to pay almost a third the cost of a new one if it's just going to break down again.

Any advice? Thanks.

[Sentath]

1. The once proud Satellite line ) :

RIP

Yeah, I hear more and more about things like this.. It is odd that the power port didn't go first.

[Bunny]

9. Yeah, I bought it thinking that Toshiba was top of the line in terms of quality.

I guess not.

[Heidi]

2. If you replace it, get an Acer.

My Acer Aspire 1640 laptop is going strong after nearly 3 years. I've not had to do a single thing to it ever, and I have only two criticisms: the battery power could be better, and there's no reset button (ie, if everything freezes up -- a very rare event but it happens occasionally -- you have to turn it upside down, pop the battery out and back in to reset it.)

Other than that, i can't recommend Acer (especially the Aspire series) highly enough. :hi:

[gmoney]

4. Hey you...

:)

How you been? Gorgeous? :)

[Heidi]

11. YOU!!!!!!!!!

How the heck have you been??????? I recently had occasion to show off one of my favorite art photography books, Dark Light, to an artist/art director friend of mine and he sends his compliments to the artist. :hug: :hug:

[Bunny]

5. Yeah, I've had two Acers and really liked theml.

One is four years old, and although she's limping, she still works. We use it as our "beater" computer. The other Acer croaked when Baby Bunny spilled water all over the keyboard. Matter of fact, the Toshiba in question was a replacement for that dead Acer. I can't say enough good stuff about Acers.

If I replace the Tosh, I'll probably go with another Acer.

:hi: Heidi!

[Heidi]

12. Hi, Bunny!

Seeing you makes me happy! :loveya:

I hope you can come to a reasonable solution with your laptop. If it were me, I'd just buy another Acer and let the Toshiba rest in peace. :)

[gmoney]

3. Think of NOT fixing it as a $175 coupon towards a new one?

Yeah, that does suck, but look around some of the mega discounters, like Buy.com or TigerDirect.com and you can probably find something as good or better for $500 or so.

The estimate could turn out being $200+ in actual costs, and if that part has crapped out, maybe other stuff is getting ready to as well.

Good luck!

[Bunny]

7. That's what I'm afraid of - once something like this goes bad, is

it going to start nickel and dime-ing me? I hate that!

OTOH, if I don't get it fixed, what am I going to do with a fairly young but still very dead computer? If it was really old, the decision would be much easier.

[gmoney]

13. Craigslist?

You might be able to sell it there for some money -- explain it needs the repair, and maybe some techweenie will buy it to fix himself?

I dunno... on second thought, Click and Clack usually advocate repairing rather than replacing cars, and if you want to be "green" about things, repair is a greener way to go.

[pokerfan]

14. If it was working, what would it be worth?

You might want to see what used ones are going for on Ebay. Then decide if it's worth repairing. I've designed laptop backlights (CCFL type) and I can tell you that some of the components in those circuits are subjected to incredible stress. I'm not saying it's a design flaw but you never know.

[Crazy Dave]

6. Wow...Toshibas used to be the best

But hey...I once bought a $2000 Dell that crapped out in three months. I think the same as another poster, put the $175 on a new or factory refurbished HP. I've bought two factory re-certified HP laptops that came with warranties, both for less than $500. One three years old, the other one year, no problems.

[Bunny]

8. I may just do that - my IT guy at work told me that Tigerdirect has

a decent HP for $409 + S/H. I have a fairly new HP that I'm using now, and it's only a couple of months old but so far I'm satisfied.

[Crazy Dave]

10. That's where I bought both of mine

The service was good and the shipping was fast. But do check to make sure that it's factory certified and with the warranty from the factory. They sell many others that claim to be refurbished and with no warranty. A company I worked at got a bad one once but Tigerdirect made good on it.

Both of the ones I got from them you could not tell from new.

Good luck :hi: