Repair or Replace broken notebook.

[Coachman]

Not sure if I should replace my wife's laptop. She has an out of warrenty Asus Aj9 with Core 2 t7200 processors. The back of the case is cracking at the hinge. The way I see I could replace it with a Dell inspirion Celeron computer for $400 or take my chances with a repair on a defective component(cracked by opening an closing the computer so many times...known problem with this model because manufacturer had hinges on too tight).

[Ravin]

It almost sounds like that replacement would be a downgrade. Is it? If not, I'ld go with the new one.

[Coachman]

Yep...it would be a downgrade.....I don't know if it is true anymore, but I had heard that it costs almost $1000 to replace the screen. Not sure, if they can keep the screen and just replace the shell and hinges.

Here are the processors in comparison to T7200. I can buy a T6500 dell studio for 400 new.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=37251,39311,27255,

[Ravin]

Then I think it's pretty much case closed. If the repair is going to cost half the price of the new one or more, just replace it. Adjust that percentage up or down depending on your current wallet status.

[Coachman]

Well, I finally talked to Asus after 20 mins of arguing with rma center.. It was like pulling teeth getting even a ballpark estimate. It would cost a $100 and additional shipping charges to just look at the machine. So, I asked what was the typical price of a new screen...$400 just for the part, plus labor, plus the $100 fee to diagnose and shipping. I'm looking at $600 just for repair it.

I'm just going to get a new downgraded laptop for my wife. After researching, it looks like a bad design problem which they didn't fix with the repair kits.