What is the hardest part of repairing laptops for a living?

Question

I've heard finding parts is actually more regularly difficult than the disassembly/reassembly/testing of notebook computers. I appreciate any insights?

Answer 1

Homer, how can you possibly ignore the great advice from two or three TOP PROFESSIONAL GURUS, guys with 10000 points and level 6 even!

I'm embarrassed to even reply but I have to because a friend is doing exactly what you ask how to do.

In our city there are a dozen lap top stores and my friend who is a certifed technician went to each of these stores and said
"When your customers who need laptop repairs come in and their warranty's have expired where do you send them?"

Most of them said they shipped the laptops out to be fixed but the COST was greatly increased with this UPS cost both ways.

My friend said " I live here. I will pick up the laptop, fix it and return it to your store (after you OK my estimate of course).

Well he got a couple of try-outs which he said only required a new fan, a power supply, minor part failures etc and he fixed them same day and returned them to the store with a price of $40 or $35 and one $75.

Now the stores ALL send him their work since his charges are almost LESS than the shipping used to be.

Yesterday he said he fixed 5 and one of them was an old IBM that was only worth about $300 but the owner felt $40 was well worth it since it is still a wrokable second PC to have on hand.

My friend is netting about $1000 a week. Would that be worth while for you?

The pros that answered your question said "laptops are so cheap it is better to scrap them them than to repair them".

Maybe this is so but on my own 5 year old PC I still think it is cheaper to pay $50 once in a while than to buy a new one. How about you?

Answer 2

I doubt you could make a living at it. The laptops are so cheap now, they are cheaper to replace then repair. Before you get into computer repair, remember, people think they have a right to a computer and if you make them pay for fixing it, they do not like it at all. Parts are easy to find. Disassembly is sometimes a problem because there is often no indications on how to do it.
You will find your bigges fault is people not elevating the laptop so it can be cooled. This causes thermal malfunctions. If you try to tell them this they will deny it. Although when you point out the little feet that lift if off of the table, they look surprised.
I think I would look elsewhere for a future employment.

Answer 3

Getting parts. Unlike a Desktop, where the majority of components are generic from off the shelf, laptops are customized. They often contain parts, memory, hard drives, CD drives, etc. that are unique not just to their brand, but to their model. So you can not run down to the local Best Buy and grab a "whatever".

Unless you are authorized to do repairs for a manufacturer, they often will not sell you the part. They are concerned that you could cause further damage to someones PC by opening it and trying to replace the part.

Plus often, to save space, everything is part of one giant component - the system board. When something goes out, it is not like a diesktop where you can replace a power supply, or a video card, or a network card. You have to replace the entire system board. This makes laptop repairs very expensive in comparison to dekstop computers. So it often means you have to keep your labor cost lower for a laptop to get people to want to spend the money. So there is less profit in serving a laptop.

Answer 4

The biggest problem is that there are a million places to do it, so there isnt a whole lot of pricing power, and laptops cost less than ever for people to just buy new ones. It would be a very tough gig to try to make enough money to live off of anymore.

Answer 5

one of the hardest parts is actually repairing a laptop withoust breaking the shell of the computer or any of the delicate structures inside!