Laptop repair -- worth it --

[andicap]

Laptop has to go into the shop -- it's 4+ yrs old. The on-off slide button came off and it could cost anywhere from $120-$200 to fix it.

Other than that the laptop is in OK shape -- one of the USB ports is busted as is the PCIMIA slot but I don't use it anyway. CD Drive is also broken but I was going to buy an external DVD burner anyway to use for my laptop and desktop.

1. Are there minimum configurations for DVD burners? I have 512 mb RAM in the laptop.

2. Considering I can get a decent laptop with warranty for $800-$1,000, am I wasting money fixing the old one?

[Dave Schwartz]

No.

Buy the new one.

Costco.com

[betovernetcapper]

In my experience, repairing computers is throwing good money after bad. A four year old laptop is probably only worth $200-300-not enough to justify a $120 repair. New one. :)

[rrbauer]

In my experience, repairing computers is throwing good money after bad. A four year old laptop is probably only worth $200-300-not enough to justify a $120 repair. New one. :)

It's not worth jack if it's not working. Pay for the new one with a credit card. Most cr cards (gold, platinum) will double the warranty period. Get a gig of memory on new one.

[DJofSD]

I agree, get a new one.

Future proof yourself if your dependent upon MSFT -- get a dual processor and if you can spend the extra bucks get the high end graphics that full blown version of Vista wants.

BTW, I had an old, slow 486 portable I got in 1990 still working up to last summer when the graphics card for the bultin display died. I could still use it by plugging it into an empty port on the KVM switch and using it that way. I finally did retire it by buying for $100 a P-III desktop good for MS-DOS. That was cheaper than what the repair shop wanted to fix the ancient portable.

[Stevie Belmont]

No Brainer....New One.....And the prices might be the best ever on these right now.

[linrom1]

Buy a new one, but get at least 2GB of memory, preferably on 1 module only instead of 2 x1GB modules, so that you can expand to 4GB in the future.

[andicap]

One problem I've seen with getting a new one now is that most come with Vista and I've seen a lot of problems with that OS so far. I had wanted to wait until those bugs get fixed before plunging in. Haven't repaired it yet, re: advice I've gotten here, so might have to get Vista and wait for all the inevitable patches.

[point given]

new one for sure. Bauers suggestion is valid on the warranty, I had a compaq years ago i bought with a platinum card with added year of warranty. The laptop died before the 2 years were up and i got a whole new mother board and repair free. OTOH, I had a bad time with the local repair place being terrible / After that I decided that in the future I would get the 3 year extended warranty thru the manufacturer (dell). As it was they were running a sale and included the 3 year ext.w. free. With laptops, i think it is worth it to go for the extended, since repairs are so expensive and laptops can be tricky. GL