My laptop is toast; the hardrive blew up. should I fix it or buy a new one?

Question

If so, what kind of laptop is powerful and can last longer than 3 years. What brand?

Answer 1

Real Advice:
1) If you are savvy, crack the case and just buy a hard drive and do it yourself.
2) If you are weary, take the laptop to a local computer shop (NOT BEST BUY) local shops have more experienced staffs, they should be able to make the repair and save you 400-600 bucks!

Shoping Advice:
As someone who works in IT this is what I find.
1) Everyone has their own opinions on what hardware is the best (based on past experiences)
2) There is NEVER a consensus about the best brand someone always has a terror story about a brand.

My personal opinion, HP and Compaq laptops are the best.
-They use non proprietary parts inside meaning if something breaks I can go pickup any other one off the Internet and replace it (can't do that with a dell)
-They also price their laptops appropriately (Dell uses coupon codes to cheat almost everyone who buys laptops from them)
-HP & Compaq notebooks are popular enough that parts like extended life batteries and replacement lcd's are extremely inexpensive and easy to come by.
-Last but not least, they have decent design inside of the laptops and any questions (even after waranty) can be answered by HP's online tech support chat within 10 minutes.

Answer 2

If that is an old laptop, after replacing the hard drive, the other components would probably fail next. Better buy a new one.

Most laptops would last more than 3 years if:
1. You do not spill beer, soda or coffee on it.
2. You take good care of it and do not bang or drop it when travelling.
3. You do not put it at the rear compartment of a car atop the rear suspension where it could potentially have a bouncy ride with the tool box.
4. You do not use it on top of the bed or the sofa where the air cooling vents could be blocked.
5. You do not pound on the keyboard when playing a game.

For casual computing, just get one w/ a Core Solo or CeleronM 450 (Yonah). For heavy and multithreaded apps, Core Duo(Yonah2) or Core2 Duo(Conroe) would be best. For gaming, choose the GPU first, like one w/ Geforce Go 7xxx or the new Geforce 8600/8700M.

Answer 3

To fix or replace depends on a lot of things, most of all, it depends on how current the machine is. A three year old machine is not that old. I bought a replacement hard drive for my Gateway through eBay for $20. That was a lot less than the cost of a new notebook. It may be worth repairing even if you are planning to replace it. You can sell the old notebook easier if it works. :-) Good luck.

Answer 4

If the HD is the only problem, you can replace it for less than a couple hundred bucks. If you want to spend the $ for a new one and upgrade, there are many fine models. Which one to get would depend on how you intend to use it. Start shopping.

Answer 5

If you like yours and would like to fuss around with computer, just replace with new HD. Otherwise, get a Dell with Centrino Duo Pro. Alternative is one from HP, model TX1000Z (AMD CPU). I recently bought this ~$1500 (upgrade: 160GB HD, touch screen, 2GB RAM, Dual-layer DVD writer with Lightscribe), fingerprint security, and it works like a tablet. S/H is free. Go here and take a look