Laptop keyboard needed

FirstTimer4Me

i have one of these: 1 x HP 530 Celeron M 440 /1.86 GHz 15.4" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ), RAM 512 MB HDD 80 GB DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM GMA 950 Vista Home Basic

some of the keys have come of so i need a new kepboard for it

pc world want around £70.00 to supply and fit, can i get a keyboard cheaper and fit it myself problem is i don't no anyone to ask and as i have no idea with computers am i better of paying pc world £70.00 to do it for me?

ta for any help

macman

If you have 'no idea with computers', then your technical ability is at least equal to, if not superior to that of PCW. They don't generally fix laptops themselves anyway, they will probably send it to a laptop specialist. Either do it yourself (usually quite a simple job on a laptop, look at the HP support site for your manual and it should explain how to remove the keyboard) or take it to a specialist laptop repair shop who will know what they're doing.
PCW quote of £70 is actually quite reasonable for this work, but they'll probably b****r up something else while they're doing it. Or tell you you need to reinstall Windows...

nanokitten

Most laptop keys just snap on and off so have a good look at them and see if they are actually damaged.
If just a few keys are damaged you could try a small computer repair firm or computer recycling project and see if they have spares.
(Alternatively you could pinch a couple that you never use such as page up, home end... have a look at one that has come off as they have a 'direction' to pull them off and on in -a little hook on one side which acts like a hinge, they should snap on and off in that direction).
If the little fittings on the laptop itself are damaged (little plastic protrusions which match up with those on the keys) then I would go to small independent firms and get a couple of quotes before you pay pc world anything. My local computer shop will sometimes give away old parts and is much cheaper and friendlier than a megastore.

KingL

Or (if you still have the keys), go in gently with a drop of superglue. If that doesn't work, then get the new one.

JasX

If its a relatively popular laptop model I've found Ebay worth a try in the past, fairly hard to go wrong with keyboards (unlike batteries and Power adapters which can turn out to be pretty dangerous fakes).

Laptop keyboards are usually 'fairly' easy to replace, best thing if you're trying to do it yourself is google for/get hold of the 'service manual' for your laptop which will have step by step instructions of what you need to take off in what order to get the keyboard off

Refs
1-Ebay search for " HP 530 laptop keyboard "
2-Service manual: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/CoreRedirect.jsp?redirectReason=DocIndexPDF&prodSeriesId=3375953&targetPage=http%3A%2F%2Fbizsupport2.austin.hp.com%2Fbc%2Fdocs%2Fsupport%2FSupportManual%2Fc01039180%2Fc01039180.pdf

(alt link http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en&cc=uk&docIndexId=64902&taskId=135&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3375953 and scroll down to "Service and maintenance information")

chunter

Don't see too many of these UK keyboards on Ebay.
Rather than chasing shadows I'd stunp up the 70 quid.

FirstTimer4Me

i think i'm going to have to pay the £70.00 as suggested a couple of times here.

ok ta for the help.

macman

FirstTimer4Me wrote: »

i think i'm going to have to pay the £70.00 as suggested a couple of times here.

ok ta for the help.

Try an independent laptop shop, they should be able to source from just the same places as PCW.
If not, we'll probably see you back on here when PCW have wiped your hard drive...