Repair or replace laptop?

Ken Ibold

Final Approach
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Ken Ibold
I have a Sony Vaio laptop (PCG-9401) that works fine except for it intermittently buzzes in what sounds like imminent cooling fan failure. Recalling previous discussions about replacing laptop fans, I'm wondering if it's worth the hassle to repair and update. It still uses Windows ME, but I have a copy of XP I can load.

Replacing it with a low end $500 laptop would be fine. All it gets used for is word processing and some low-power applications. Very limited photo editing, no gaming, no video.

So, repair or replace?
 
A fan shouldn't be too hard and a very inexpensive. I'd opt to try to repair, and if that fails, then replace.
 
If you have to pay for the repair - as opposed to doing it yourself - you'll probably find the cost of said repair to approach the cost of a new low-end laptop that'll run circles around the one you have.
 
My Toshiba was more scary than difficult, give it a go - I think it was about 20-30$. I think it was the FIRST item installed when they were building up this laptop...you know what that means :(
 
Ken,

Photo editing?

The 13" Macbook will be announced tomorrow. It'll probably be priced in the $999-$1199 range.
 
Ditto what Chuck and Bill said. Give it a shot but keep an open mind about replacement if it doesn't work.
 
mikea said:
Ken,

Photo editing?

The 13" Macbook will be announced tomorrow. It'll probably be priced in the $999-$1199 range.
Speaking of the Macbook.

I guess Apple never took Thermalpaste: 101.
mac.jpg

That is out of an Apple Service Manual. :no:

Apple instucted that their technicans apply thermalpaste as indicated in the picture, or otherwise, empty the entire tube of thermalpaste on each point. !!!

As a result Macbooks were running extremely hot and people started to take them apart. They would clean all the thermalpaste off and apply it properly. The temperature of the notebook decreased significantly (54C to 39C). That is measuring the outside of the notebook case! (These things run HOT).

Now tell me. How does Apple mess up something as simple as applying thermalpaste? I'm not sure. But it really makes me question their engineering abilities.
 
It looks like Apple were using the paste to insulate, not to conduct!

Youch.

===

Ken: Back up your stuff and go for the fix; odds are, if you can actually get the beast open (always the challenge for me with laptops), you can effect a fix.
 
Laptops are getting very reasonable in price. I bought a Gateway at Best Buy the beginning of last month. Low end machine, 1.3 GHz Intel Celeron M processor. 256 MBytes RAM (I paid extra to upgrade that). Windows XP. 80 MByte harddrive. CD ROM player/burner / DVD player. IEEE 802.11g WiFi. Ethernet LAN. 2 USB ports. No serial or parallel printer ports. Wide screen display. After instant rebate - $529.

Oh, and as far as performance goes - the BOINC Seti@home application makes a nice benchmark, and this laptop is smoking my 1 GHz Pentium III minitower system (of course, that one has about 5 years on it).

However, I'd back up my data and try and replace the fan first. Far more economical.
 
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I asked a tech guy at work once (prior job, long time ago) what to do with my laptop because it was acting up big time. He said "light it on fire".

that seemed to be an appropriate response. Good luck whatever you do with it.
 
In light of the previous response, I wish to change my reply from Repair then Replace, to "Light it on fire", "And take video".
 
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My Dell 8200 fans starting buzzing infrequently, then frequently, then continously. I took a can of "air" and blew out the lint/dust/mung around the dual fan blades and it hasn't buzzed since [that was about a year ago]/
 
Steve said:
My Dell 8200 fans starting buzzing infrequently, then frequently, then continously. I took a can of "air" and blew out the lint/dust/mung around the dual fan blades and it hasn't buzzed since [that was about a year ago]/

My dell laptop also did that, then the hinge on the screen broke, after which two keys popped off. So I took the 6 month old computer to IT for repair and ordered a new one at the same time. IT told me $1300 to repair (my new one cost $1500), told them to send it back and it is now a VoIP server at my house for a remote control VoIP radio station set up I have.
 
smigaldi said:
it is now a VoIP server at my house for a remote control VoIP radio station set up I have.

Echolink?
 
Oooh - internet radio is fun - if you find a good feed. What's your station?
 
Ken, I stopped by the Apple Store and took a look at the new 13" Wide screen Macbook announced yesterday. It looks nice in black.
http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

I almost certain this is at the Chicago Apple Store. They can't all look like that.
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1748
http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/2006/05/16/apple-macbook-0516markets18.html

I think even the $1099 white version is extermely viable if you spring another $100 for 1GB of RAM. The only thing it wouldn't have is DVD burning, which comes on the faster $1299 version.

Remember it also runs Windows. It runs Windows XP really well. You just gotta buy a copy.

I'm gonna stay tuned to see if any early adopters have complaints about the keyboard.

I know I'll get one, but now I might decide to get a 15". I have to decide how important the slightly better portability is vs. the bigger, higher res screen.

My old Compaq laptop must have gotten wind of the competition. It's been working really well. I was able to hitch on a WiFi at a hotel lobby and VPN in to work to get some work done for an hour. *I* was using the only the main battery while those around with the shiny new Dells and IBMs were lynching AC power. Wimps. ;)

WiFi is way cool. :D
 
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