Where do laptops go when they die?
My Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV600 has been a very good laptop. Sure, the sucker weighs that of a small child but it was the king of kings in 2006. Now, in the year 2012, my laptop is starting to fail bit by bit. The screen will not come back on if the laptop goes into hibernate mode and I am forced to do a hard reboot to reactivate the screen. I don’t have any viruses so I’m chalking it up to another fryed(ing) motherboard – yes, I’ve burned through one about two years back. To top it all off, now random keys on my laptop keyboard just won’t work. I’ve tried cleaning, defragmenting, disk repair and other various “have you turned it on” solutions but to no avail. I was thinking of restoring it to factory settings and if that didn’t work I would take it to a repair shop. My question is – do you think a 2006 laptop is worth repairing if the cost is over $200 or should I send the ol’e boy to pasture? Any advice or tips would be most appreciated!
Trash it. Parts will be very hard to come by, and if you aren't doing the work yourself the labor charges will add up quickly.
A decent new laptop that will run circles around your old Qosmio can be had for less than $500 these days.
Yank the hard drive out of the old girl then dispose of the carcass properly per your local ordinances.
@durkzilla: That's the answer I was expecting. Thanks for your input.
Most laptops I have worked with caused much misery and suffering during their lives; so, I would say they go to laptop Hell... ;-)
If there's one in your area, you can drop it off at a computer consignment shop or recycling center. They might be able to put some parts to use, and properly dispose of the rest.
You can always reload it, factory fresh.
OR
Try a different OS like http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os from http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/
OR
try Ubuntu live cd (you do not need to install it, just run it from a disk. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD If you like it install it.
Keep it for a Kitchen PC for recipes and music.
I am not too sure it is hardware.
They go to a lake of fire and fry.
You won't see them again 'till the 4th of July.
Die? I buy Thinkpads my mom is using a handed down Thinkpad T20 from 1999. SSD livened unit right up.
I don't know if it is a viable solution for you, but my old laptop had an S video out port, so when the screen failed I hooked it up to the 72" TV and used it to watch videos for several more years till the hard drive failed. It was having some keyboard issues as well (the blue numbers keyboard that's in the center of the letters kept activating and refusing to deactivate) but I used a Gyration remote mouse and keyboard from the comfort of the sofa so it didn't matter. It's actually at my friend's house being worked on as I was able to buy a new HD for it for $25, so he is seeing if he can get it running again, as the desktop I have put in its place doesn't have wireless internet, so I can't stream free video sites with it. If it's a true goner I'll have him pull out the new HD and see what I can get for it on Craigslist, but I figured it was worth a $25 gamble.
@moondrake: This seems more of my style! I just hate to junk my long time friend and this sounds like a great back up plan media wise. Thank you for the suggestion.
all doggone laptops go to heaven
part it out. Someone else may want to keep their version of your lappy going a few more years. Sounds like your keyboard is the issue with the your keys, not a software/firmware problem.
@jumbowoot likes the Meat Puppets, I knew there was a reason other than coupons to like him!
Leave me alone and go ask your mother!
@ruger9mm: Or Nirvana?
@gideonfrost: I bet Nirvana!
Not coming back after hibernate is a driver issue. I just took my wife's cq62-219wm walmart cheepo special, swapped ram and processor for under a hundred bucks. Add a SSD and besides gaming it a great laptop now. Core 2 duo, 4 gigs ram, just a little lackluster for anything besides facebook games.
I thought they went to cowboom.com .
It would make a great target.
You could check with your trade it in/ recycle plan with Best Buy, they sometimes will give you credit towards your new replacement, but I do like to hardware test with the ubuntu live usb, or live cd, before rulling out OS, drivers, and updates make hibernation wakeup flakey on alot of machines, but keyboard issues rarely happen because of OS corruption
I would love to have some parts off of it. I am sure, if you can not try my suggestions above, you could give it to someone who could find a good home for it. Upon a quick look it has a dual core processor and a sata drive. I am sure you could find someone who would want it...eBay?
@happyknappybeard here is a much better answer, especially for those of a more "green' or "hippie" type. try this website, you might even get paid for your old electronics.
I've sent in old cell phones, printer ink that my local office place doesn't want anymore , etc... (and I've even got a couple bucks for the junk too)
To a place where your dad shoots them with his .45
Craigslist, for cheap. There's always some poor devil that could use it.
eBay. Ditto.
Salvation Army, after you get it working right. Some other poor devil could use it, and you can get a tax deduction.
There are tiny linux distros that will "perk it up". Yes on ram and HDD upgrades. I've got an old Toshiba that was also "perked right up". It won't play games, but for checking email, playing music, cruising the net, and writing and printing letters it works just fine. It's like a big fat tablet. With more ports and perks.
The above answer was how to get rid of it.
Look on eBay for keyboards, etc if you want to keep it.
And I've been having this same kinda conversation with some friends. "I want a laptop" or "I want a tablet" "Do you have any? Can you get any? What do you suggest?"
My suggestion: goto Frys, and buy the second or third item from the bottom price list on sale. Maybe you paid a few buckazoids on your laptop- six years ago. I know somebody trying to sell his old cranky G41 Thinkpad ("Do you know how much I paid for this?!?!") on CL for $500. I can buy a (right from today's ad) Acer 15.6" Laptop AS6413 with 2nd Generation Intel Core i3-2350M Processor 2.3GHz for $368. 4gb ram, 320gb hdd, HDMI, 8x DL DVD, and camera.
And a warranty. Brand new.
If you're looking at a $200+ repair bill- keep looking. I can use it for parts for my Toshiba; parts are usually make and model specific for laptops. Otherwise- if it works good keep it; but when it breaks, retire the old girl, and move on.
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