Fix Current Laptop or Buy New?

[wviperw]

So I've got a Gateway MT6841 laptop that hasn't been working for the last 6 months or so. It cost $700 2.5 years ago when I got it--came with Vista, 2gb RAM, 15" screen, etc. Now it's a large paperweight due to it no longer taking a charge from the A/C adapter. All signs pointed to the DC power jack being faulty, so first I tried fixing it myself--no luck--then I tried sending it to a guy I found online who does lots of DC power jacks and $80 later, I still don't have a working laptop.

So my next step is either to send it into Gateway, which seems like a good bet that it will get fixed, but will set me back $200, OR I could just move on and buy a new (cheap) laptop.

I know this comes down to personal preference somewhat, but what would you do?

 

[Brainonska511]

Considering the age & how much it would cost to fix it, I'd look into purchasing a new one.

 

[fffblackmage]

New laptop. $200 is way too much money to fix an old laptop.

 

[corkyg]

The depreciation on a $700 laptop over 2.5 years is a good 60%. That would make its current value at about $250 to $300. A $200 repair on that is definitely not cost effective - in my view, economically unrepairable. Go for a new one. You can get more for less these days.

 

[21stHermit]

When the backlight on my new Dell E1501 failed, after ~15mo. Dell wanted almost $500 to replace the LCD. I instead purchased a 22" LCD (~$250) and turned the laptop into a quasi desktop, worked pretty good. About 2 years later I got a new laptop LCD off eBay for ~$75 so the lappie is back.

Moral, you may be able to wire around the problem and at least use the laptop for something. But as has been stated, a factory repair is not economically justifiable.

Another thought, their are people on eBay looking for repairable units, so you might recover some of your cost of a new laptop.

 

[wviperw]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to look into buying a new one. Another option I thought of is to see if I can find an external battery charger--then I could at least use the laptop w/ its batteries.