Laptop Died: What Next?

[UK_Scat_Pack]

Hi all,

I ve got an ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED M513UA (15.6", AMD Ryzen 7) that started crashing a couple of months ago (sadly it s only 3 years old!). I took it to a local computer repair shop, and they told me the drive had failed. So, £200 later, I had a new 1TB drive installed.

Two days after getting it back, the laptop started crashing again. I returned it, and after further checks they now say the motherboard is failing. I ve been quoted another £200 for a replacement board and fitting.

My question is: should I go ahead with the repair, or would it make more sense to buy a new laptop or even switch to a desktop PC?

I don t rely heavily on portability, so a desktop might be the better long term option, especially for reliability and easier upgrades. I could still use the laptop for travel and streaming (at least until the board finally gives up).

I mainly need something for working from home, running Office apps, and supporting three monitors. My wife would also occasionally use it to play The Sims.

I don t know much about desktop PCs, but the repair shop has offered to build one for £450 £550 with the following specs:

i5 6 core processor

16GB RAM

Large air cooler

Glass panel case

MSI dedicated graphics card

SSD

I m not sure how good that is, and I m wondering whether I could build my own (I ve upgraded laptops before) or whether I should just go with their build.

What would be a good spec for my needs?

Thanks for reading. Hopefully this all makes sense. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I need to make a decision quickly and don t have the time to research like I normally would.

Edited by UK_Scat_Pack on Tuesday 17th February 22:51

[LJF_97]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with desktops anymore, old tech. You can get laptops that are repairable, look at the business range of laptops. Lenovo Thinkpads are notoriously easy to repair / upgrade. Parts are accessible and there are large online communities for support.

I have one and it's great. I bought one as my personal laptop after getting one via work and being impressed with it.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

It sounds to me like this computer shop have no idea what they are doing, personally I wouldn't let them touch the laptop again and I certainly would not buy a PC from them.

It is almost never worth repairing laptops, personally I would rather buy another one than spend another £200 on the parts cannon.

Could the problem be that it just needed a fresh install of Windows in the first place? What's the betting they just cloned the new drive off the old one and there was actually nothing wrong with it? They have then just copied the messed up install of windows to the new drive.

If it was mine, I would do a fresh install of windows and see if that fixes it.

Edited by ThingsBehindTheSun on Wednesday 18th February 05:34

[AB]

I'm with this guy above! The specs don't seem all that hot on the proposed desktop either.

[Haltamer]

I'd start with the OS Reinstall as well.. Any insights on the nature of the crash?

As for alternatives, you're probably best sticking with a Business-specced laptop (Possibly even refurbished) - leave it in clamshell, run the monitors, use it like a desktop, and then should you want to go travelling or work from the sofa you've got the option.

[Clad-Hach]

Have a look at HP Elitebook's.

A few years ago I picked up a virtually brand new i5 840 G8 for not a lot of money, all I've done to it is install 16gb of memory and a 2tb SSD, its made from metal, its quick, makes no noise has a decent screen and handles everything I need it to do.

If it broke today I'd be straight out and buy another.

[FlyingPanda]

I'll say it before anyone else does.

Go and buy a MacBook.

[stemll]

FlyingPanda said:

I'll say it before anyone else does.

Go and buy a MacBook.

Big Mac fan here but it's not the answer for the vast majority of current Windows users.

Just bought my son a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 after his Surface Laptop Go started freezing and the screen glitching during lectures!!! Ryzen AI 5 340, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, WiFi 7, 14" WUXGA got it for £660 a few weeks ago but seems to be back at £900 now. Really impressed with it, metal chassis, great screen and keyboard and the only junk I had to uninstall was McAfee (which still, REALLY doesn't want you to uninstall it). It also has Windows Hello if you want to use fingerprint/face to log on.

I also removed the Office trial to replace with my own key but I wouldn't include that as "junk" is just don't want to pay a sub.

Still won't entice me back to Windows but for someone like my son that needs Windows and Office for easy University connectivity, it seemed like a great option and I'm happy with it.

No way I'd be paying £400+ to fix an old laptop when there are periodic offers like this.

[foreright]

Clad-Hach said:

Have a look at HP Elitebook's.

A few years ago I picked up a virtually brand new i5 840 G8 for not a lot of money, all I've done to it is install 16gb of memory and a 2tb SSD, its made from metal, its quick, makes no noise has a decent screen and handles everything I need it to do.

If it broke today I'd be straight out and buy another.

We switched to these at work a couple of years ago and they certainly are decently quick, extremely quiet and the screen is very nice.

Ironically, mine is failing after just under two years - looks like the graphics card or possibly the dock is faulty and one of my external screens goes to a nice snow effect every day or so. Needs a reboot to resolve temporarily. Additionally it often gets stuck on the bios screen which again points to something failing. Have reinstalled windows a couple of times already so when I can do without my laptop for a day or two it’s going to the IT team for fix or more likely replacement so these are not immune to issues either

I’ll say that the HP Zbook (G14 - everything upgraded to max) was absolutely bulletproof and never failed in the however many years I had it. We got these the week they came out and it actually still works just fine - just needed a replacement battery.

[UK_Scat_Pack]

Thanks for the replies all.

I did question of the drive was faulty initially, but he did point to the drive having serious failing issues and it was on it’s way out. Is it confidence that the board then started failing at the same time? I don t know.

He did do a full reinstall of windows after the first lot of issues with the SSD. It didn t fix anything. He also ran quite a few long tests of the RAM.

Some conflicting views above with the old PC vs Laptop debate. I don t know what the best course is.
I have considered MacBooks but they are expensive and the other worry I would have with them is compatibility with everything I already have or use document wise etc.

I have been considering used desktops that are local on Marketplace and getting AI to tell me if it s a good or outdated spec. Still pondering my options at the moment.

Edited by UK_Scat_Pack on Thursday 19th February 05:42

[ninepoint2]

I've just bought a refurbished ex Corporate Dell laptop for a lot less than £200 and it works very well. Try these guys it's my 3rd purchase from them, 2 desktops and a laptop, all work very well.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/blackmoreit?_trksid=p44...

[stemll]

If you have doubts about Macs then they aren't for you and that is from a Mac user of 14 years. You may well have problems with app compatibility but not so much with documents. Pages/Numbers/Keynote will open anything from Word/Excel/Powerpoint but you could lose some fonts/formatting.

Unless you are 100% sure about a Mac then just don't, you will regret it. To make that change you have to be 100% committed.