Hey Unplggd, A month ago my Dell Latitude D505 laptop died on me - the screen went black and after many hours of tech support, the verdict came in: replace the motherboard, at a cost of $400 parts, $200 labor. The machine cost $1100 when purchased (3-4 years ago!) so obviously $600 is just not gonna happen. Plus, I already have a new laptop for work!
Ok, so now, what do I do with the Latitude? Should I pull an Office Space and bash it to pieces?
For a moment I humored the idea of fixing it and giving it to my sister, but for $600 she could get a desktop computer, brand new! Do I sell it for parts? Where in NYC would I do that? Am I S.O.L. and it's Recycle or Bust?
I'm really at a loss. What DO people DO in my situation? I could tape a photo over the screen and turn it into a $1100 picture frame. But that seems like a waste. Eh?
Thanks!
-Katy
PS The Company bought me the new Dell XPS M1730 which is badass!!! FUGLY AS SIN but super fast. I'm very happy with it, except for the power brick, bright shiny lights, and the overstimulation of so many bells, whistles, etc.
Hey Katy,
We've got a couple of ideas, but also want to hear from our readers. First, you could find a repair place and send it in for repair--since you know exactly what you need, they can give you a pretty exact quote on the cost. Ideally, you can find a local place that can trouble shoot exactly which part of the motherboard needs replacing and do just that part. "Mom-and-Pop" type computer stores are probably the way to go in this case. [DO NOT use Laptop Rescuer Co., we like the type of services they offer but their reviews are dismal on-line (yelp, yahoo), message boards and eBay. To find reviews about an unknown company, google their name with the word review.]
Second, you could try to find a motherboard on-line, like on eBay, and try to replace it yourself. This is obviously trickier because you have to find a board with the
A few calls might save you a ton of money and still allow you to give the laptop to your sister for far less. Any other ideas, readers?
Cheers,
Kate
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I had my Dell XPS for just over a year and it died on me, my boyfriend figured out it was the graphics card which was $600 from Dell (mind you my laptop was over $2k!!!!!). It's been sitting in my closet for a few months now. That's partially my fault though, I have seen a few on ebay for something like $250-$300. I just can't make myself spend that much right at the moment when I still owe for the stupid laptop. Sigh.
So, I would recommend looking on ebay, I don't think laptop parts are too available anywhere, at least my graphics card wasn't.
view alyssazor's profile
thanks for the ideas! :)
for a moment, i was tempted to do this myself, but i know i'd screw it up somehow. i'm handy, but i've never opened up a computer before.
i'd try a mom'n'pop to get a price, though i can't imagine i'm willing to spend much on this project - like, why would i spend more than $200 on this, when for around $500 you can get a new computer!?
if all else fails, do you know of places that buy computers for parts?
OH, and and and...how can i erase my hard drive? yikes!
view kdkaboom's profile
kdkaboom - Selling the parts on eBay would seem to be the way to go because, like we've discovered, there's very few out on the market in general.
view kate's profile
If you're just going to sell or trash the comp, the best way to clear the hard drive is by taking it out and beating it with a hammer. just kill it.
view mscot's profile
If the only issue is the screen is dead, then set it up as a headless server.
I have a Toshiba laptop with a dead screen and I use RDP to connect to is and it servers very well as virtually silent small server.
Connect it to an external monitor, to setup windows and enable the RDP client (or use VNC), then all you need to do it is make sure it has power and network access, and you have a server for free.
view mayakovski's profile