I bought a laptop from Dell ((Dell’s are great – if you know what you’re doing OR if you spring for the all-you-can eat repair buffet AND like talking to tech support.))
After a year, I sent my laptop in for a minor repaird
Dell last my laptop, and after much agony, replaced it with another model
After a year and a half, laptop monitor stopped working
Backup your data before something goes wrong ((Like discovering you have an evil android twin who’s exactly like you – except that he has emotions.)) ((Thanks to wikipedia for the photos.))
Cost is probably the single biggest deciding factor. The good news is that your laptop can probably be repaired. Sight unseen, it will probably cost you between $200.00 and $500.00 including parts and labor. A new laptop will cost you roughly $500.00 for a bare bones machine, $1,250.00 for a nice machine, and $2,500.00 and up for a ridiculously powerful machine.
Lifetime
For most people a computer has a 3 year timeline of usefulness. After that something about the computer will be too outdated to be of use beyond basic usage. If your computer is more than 3 years old, you’ve had a good run. Replace the poor thing.
Time & Need
If you need a computer for your business, every hour without your computer means you’re losing money. If you don’t need it for your business, you’ve got more time to decide. Your time is important and your downtime is even more important.
Formula
Here’s my totally unscientific and completely quantifiable formula for determining with nearly totally complete guesstimate-approximation of whether you should repair or replace your laptop. First, let’s assume a constant – the amount you would spend on a new laptop and set that equal to the original purchase price of your current broken laptop. The formula is as follows:
