Hardware breakdown – repair or replace?

You spent a lot of money buying your new, powerful laptop or PC and then something goes wrong.

So you bring it into the repair shop and diagnosis reveals that your state of the art Intel 7 needs a new hard drive. (Hopefully you have been regularly backing up all your data!)

You are shocked to be given a quote to repair this hardware breakdown, in this case for the new drive, plus the cost of fitting, in the region of £150.

You know that for this kind of money you can go into one of the big IT equipment chains and buy a new laptop.

But is it a false economy?

Your current laptop has a very high-performance specification, so you are used to its having the power you need to manage large amounts of data, download films or games and carry out all your operations at high speed.

Will a new, cheaper model perform to the same high standards?  Will it have the same power?  How long is it likely to last?

These are all considerations if you are considering buying new, but at a “budget” price.

There are other options

If you are going to pay roughly the same amount, would it not be better to have your otherwise brilliant hardware repaired than to buy a less powerful model?  Remember there is always a trade-off between quality and performance and price.

Another option, if you have really lost confidence in your existing machine and want to replace it, is to go for a refurbished model.

Refurbished machines can be excellent quality and good value.  With this option you may be able to afford a higher-performance model for the same price as a brand new but less robust alternative.

We will soon be launching our brand new online shop which will be selling only good quality, refurbished hardware. Watch this space.