PC repairs depend on lots of issues. Whether a fix is a good investment comes down to what the computer was when it was new, what’s wrong with it, and the cost of parts. Let’s break that down.
What was the computer?
High-end computers with name-brand parts last longer than budget computers. Cheap computers use mobile tablet processors, and you should not expect to get more than three years out of any these tablets-with-a-keyboard toys. There are too many junk processors to count right now, so I’ll express this from the top down: Any new computer should use an Intel Core-series or Ultra-series processor, or any AMD Ryzen processor. Even old trademarks you knew are no longer worthwhile: Pentium used to mean high-end processor, but that was in the 20th Century. Now, a Pentium chip is a budget processor not suitable for any business computer.
Machines like that don’t last. Here’s why: Windows gets larger every month. It’s the patches–they’re always something like: “To keep that broken feature, we have to add extra validation steps to see that it’s not abused, for each one of 20-50 fixes per month…” So, Windows gets bigger and slower, and hopefully becomes more secure over time, but it becomes too heavy for tablet processors to use.
The budget computers cut corners in other ways beside the processors. There’s storage: A high-end workstation uses NVME solid-state drives, basically a circuit-board drive of very fast chips. Budget junk uses “flash RAM” which are slow chips soldered in-place, and these are not replaceable or ungradable. SATA 2.5″ solid state drives are still OK as upgrades on old systems or as additional storage, and a major improvement over spinning drives, but they should no longer arrive on new computers. The exception is if you need more than 4 Terabytes of internal storage, and then there are spinning drives designed to work well as additional storage.
Repairability: Cheap laptops are plastic, held together by fragile plastic clips, with fragile hinges, and generally have very limited repair options, and no parts available except used on eBay. Laptops intended for business use (Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell Pro, some others) mostly use metal hinges anchored in metal cases, and have more internally-replaceable parts.
Finally, larger computers have more repair options. Mid-towers are the fastest to fix. They use standard parts, always available, for fans, power supplies, and accessory boards. There is room to add accessory boards to replace on-board ports that no longer work. Anything smaller takes longer, and we’re at the mercy of overseas shippers for something as simple as a fan.
What’s Wrong With It?
The quick answer first: Near-by lightning strikes and water damage should generally not be repaired. These systems are usually shot, but data recovery from the drives is generally routine.
Any laptop with water damage or power damage may have other hidden damage. The durability of the repair is an unknown. A cheap fix is worthwhile, like adding a USB network adapter, but major parts swaps are not a good investment.
Impact. A plastic laptop dropped on a hinged corner is pretty much shot. The more-solid metal models can survive more abuse. Hinges generally don’t fail; it is the sockets holding the screws that hold the hinge that tear out. Fixing that requires replacement of the outer shell, and those parts are impossible to get, and the labor cost would overwhelm the remaining value in the system.
The Cost of Parts:
For laptops, these repairs are usually available, not very expensive, and worth replacement: Fan, drive, memory, or WiFi card, and keyboard (if not the built-into-the-palmrest types).
For desktop systems, any of the repairs above are worthwhile, plus DVD drive, power supply, network card, USB card, or video card.
Motherboard replacements on laptops are not practical unless the laptop is under manufacturer’s warranty, usually with the accidental damage add-on warranty. Otherwise, the replacement part has 3 months order time, is subject to cancellation, and has a 90-day warranty at best, for $800, before labor.
Motherboard replacements on desktop systems can sometimes be worthwhile, but let a technician check out the system. Sometimes, it’s practical to move a drive, with Windows and all installed software and data, to a new system. But that relies on finding a replacement board that uses a similar chip set, in order to keep any driver changes to a minimum.
How much time does that computer have left?
Finally, is the computer running a current version of Windows? Windows security updates have timed end dates. Repairing a computer that’s over 5 years old is worthwhile if it started out as a high-end system, running a Ryzen 9 or Intel Core i9, or maybe the ‘7′ series. Below that, no, don’t do it.
How old is too old?
The computer manufacturers will tell you that replacing every computer every three years boosts productivity. (Also their stock prices.) And “AI Computers” are here and have built-in AI support, to boost productivity some more. Well, AI is in early days, and it’s 99% running off web servers. AI will be everywhere soon, but the computers that have it built-in, and that’s processor support, are still very reliant on AI servers in the cloud.
So three years? Well, not according to my customers, who generally get 5 years from a laptop and 7+ years from a desktop PC, more if they’re treated well.
Jerry Stern is the Chief Technical Officer of Science Translations (sciencetranslations.com), an AI artist specialized in web site illustrations, and has been repairing, building, and networking business computers since 1990.