Laptop motherboard repair

[Javi]

Welp, my 2-1/2 year old Toshiba took a crap on me 1-2 weeks ago. I thought it was the display backlight not working anymore but turns out my motherboard is dead. Computer repair guy told me to not bother replacing it & to buy a new one & my pal told me I could buy a new motherboard & he'll install it(think it costs $200-something for one) or I could find someone to repair the motherboard. Found some place through Google that will do it for $80 before shipping. Have any of you had one repaired before? Would it be better to just buy a brand new one?

This whole thing makes me want to save up for a desktop so I can play games with no worries about them straining my laptop's hardware but I think I'd still like to keep my laptop for going on Calguns, Youtube, etc.

[Mr. Magoo]

Depending on the issue, repairing a motherboard is just a band-aid for another failure. A new board is probably not worth it, seeing how you can get a decent laptop for under $400 these days. Even less if all you want to do is browse the net. I have an oooooold laptop (Core 2 Duo), fortunately parts for it have been very cheap, I have replaced the board once as well as the backlight.

Obviously a desktop is the best solution for dedicated gaming, not everyone has the space or needs for one though.

[Javi]

I'm not super sure where I would put the desktop. I sold my xbox since Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 & some others have taken over my gaming interests. The graphics card struggles a bit with TF2. I also do some light editing of photos I take so I don't know if I'm asking too much of my Toshiba/any laptop that isn't $800+

These are the guys I just found online:http://laptoprepair911.com/

I wonder how long a repair would hold up.

[Mr. Magoo]

Do you ever prop the laptop up so that air can flow around it? Heat is your enemy, and performance will stabilize if you have adequate cooling. Playing TF2 with the laptop on your bed wont help the heat escape much hehe.

Pretty sure you can find laptops with discrete GPU's under $800 these days. They wont be full blown desktop replacements, but will get the job done for the most part. Although, if I was going to spend $700+ and was gaming I would be building a budget desktop for gaming. The experience is just much better, especially with games like TF2.

[Javi]

Do you ever prop the laptop up so that air can flow around it? Heat is your enemy, and performance will stabilize if you have adequate cooling. Playing TF2 with the laptop on your bed wont help the heat escape much hehe.

Pretty sure you can find laptops with discrete GPU's under $800 these days. They wont be full blown desktop replacements, but will get the job done for the most part. Although, if I was going to spend $700+ and was gaming I would be building a budget desktop for gaming. The experience is just much better, especially with games like TF2.

I actually have done extended Youtube/netflix sessions with the laptop on my bed =/ I did make sure no covers were covering the left side of the fan vent there but I'm sure it being warm on the bottom was not good. This laptop here gets MUCH warmer than my Toshiba ever did, though. Oh, man...Yeah if I were getting an $800+ laptop, I would save $300 for my PC build at that point. You know...I might just go with this Samsung. Seems kickass to me:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3443247&Sku=S203-156311

Really disappointed I spent $50 on a brand new 3rd part battery a few days ago thinking it would fix my laptop haha.

[Mr. Magoo]

I actually have done extended Youtube/netflix sessions with the laptop on my bed =/ I did make sure no covers were covering the left side of the fan vent there but I'm sure it being warm on the bottom was not good. This laptop here gets MUCH warmer than my Toshiba ever did, though. Oh, man...Yeah if I were getting an $800+ laptop, I would save $300 for my PC build at that point. You know...I might just go with this Samsung. Seems kickass to me:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3443247&Sku=S203-156311

Really disappointed I spent $50 on a brand new 3rd part battery a few days ago thinking it would fix my laptop haha.

I would grab this if you can swing another $50.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215552

The 630M is much more powerful than the 6520G. Unless you are hung up on an AMD/ATI laptop. You can get a higher end Radeon instead of the 6520.

[Javi]

Ouu, that's nice! Isn't the quad-core processor on the Samsung better than an i-3, though?

[Mr. Magoo]

Ouu, that's nice! Isn't the quad-core processor on the Samsung better than an i-3, though?

The i3 has hyperthreading, and while not a true quad core, it does operate on 4 threads. Intels architecture is superior to AMD's, they just haven't been able to catch up to the budget Intel has.

[Javi]

Ah, that's great haha. Well, I have some saving up to do & I'll decide before then. I'll have to research both processors well and see what I want. That Nvidia is tempting!

[ElDub1950]

Their web site doesn't say anything about an $80 flat rate. They show a 99 special for some models. It says they'll give you a quote. If they're special is 99 you can bet your quote will be higher.

Also, there is no mention of warranty/guarantee.

The problem with lap top repairs is that by the time one component fails, all the others have been heat stressed for the same period. Your key statement is that you use it on you bed. Just not possible to keep good airflow on a soft surface.

These may be perfectly fine folks to deal with, but your chances of being 100% satisfied are about 50/50.

If it were me, I'd replace it. And if you run a lot of games you'll probably be better off with a desktop.

[Javi]

Thanks, guys. Do people buy non-functioning laptops or used parts? Definitely not expecting anywhere near what I paid for but if it's just the motherboard, maybe someone would buy one for $100? Was a good laptop when it was alive. The people I bought my 3rd party battery are accepting my return, though so maybe it's only worth $50 now haha.

[glock 357]

Check your pm I can help.

[Rouge Recon]

What is the model of your laptop?

[Javi]

Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5050. I'm going to buy a laptop that's more appropriate for my needs

[stilly]

Depending on the issue, repairing a motherboard is just a band-aid for another failure. A new board is probably not worth it, seeing how you can get a decent laptop for under $400 these days. Even less if all you want to do is browse the net. I have an oooooold laptop (Core 2 Duo), fortunately parts for it have been very cheap, I have replaced the board once as well as the backlight.

Obviously a desktop is the best solution for dedicated gaming, not everyone has the space or needs for one though.

Forget the repair, it will last until it is dead, BUT now you will have OTHER iussues, like the hinges breaking off or the wifi going out or the cpu/gpu overheating due to a lodged dust bunny. The list goes on, OH and the number one I see is: POWER JACK failures due to being too forceful with them or wiggling them around while they are in and breaking the soldered joints from the mobo. THAT will cost you about $130. And each time you have them look at it it will be around $80 just to tell you what is wrong.

I just released a killer gaming system to someone and it only cost about $1200 to build, BUT there were a few things that I could have left out that would have dropped the price by a few hundred.

If you wanna another laptop I will gladly sell you a HP NC6400 for $320. It is a dual core centrino setup I think and I forgot the HD size, most are 60GB or bigger with 1-2GB of RAM and all but I have about 2-3 of them that I need to get rid of. I do not normally sell like this but I am currenly unemployed and these have been sitting around collecting dust for about a year now. They are used, but they got a lotta life left in them. They use sata hard drives and these are also business class machines. so about 6 years or so ago they cost about 2k each from hp cause you can't go into best buy and buy a business class machine. I use one myself and I love it, but then I got a google nexus 7 16GB and I am loving on that too.

Game systems do not cost that much to build though, you can put one,-ERR, I can put one together for about $600+ and it will give you a lot of bang for your buck. It is a hobby that I enjoy doing. You should look into it and just start building one on the side.

Good luck and have fun with whatever you decide.