bust motherboard on dell latitude laptop

~appletart~

Hi if anyone could help id be really gratefull (id go as far as to click the thanks button!!).My daughter's laptop went kapput on her last week , we have been assured that the motherboards gone and been quoted £200 + for it to be repaired,its just out of warrenty and id rather buy a new one than pay that price,but she would have to wait ,which im gutted about,shes blind and it has jaws (a speech progamme) and her beloved itunes collection ,i have back ups of these so thats not a porblem but she uses it a lot and misses it so id like to replace or repair as soon as i can.

my question is,can i repair cheaply (ie: £100 or under) or buy cheaply just to do for a bit ,will a wee cheap netbook run itunes and a programme like jaws?i have seen these at around £200 but wouldnt want to take the risk of it not being suitable.

thanks in advance for any advice offered.

davester

Itune is not that system hogging

Windows Hardware

• A PC with a 1GHz Intel or AMD processor
• Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater
• Playing videos purchased on the iTunes Store requires an Intel Pentium D or faster processor
• Playing HD-quality videos purchased on the iTunes Store requires a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor
• 512MB of RAM; 1GB is required to play HD-quality videos
• A DirectX 9.0-compatible video card with 32MB of video RAM; 64MB recommended
• A QuickTime-compatible audio card
• A broadband Internet connection to use the iTunes Store
• An iTunes-compatible CD or DVD recorder to create audio CDs, MP3 CDs, or back-up CDs or DVDs

Windows Software

• Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, or 32-bit editions of Windows Vista
• 64-bit editions of Windows Vista or later require the iTunes 8 64-bit installer
• QuickTime 7.5.5 or later is required (included)
• 200MB of available disk space
• Screen reader support requires Window-Eyes 7.0 or later; for information about accessibility in iTunes, visit www.apple.com/accessibility

~appletart~

thank you,ill have a wee look and see what i can find with similer specs in my price range.

davester

I think a netbook (The little screen ones) will run itunes, but with the cheapest models with only 8 GB drives and no DVD drives you might want to look for a laptop that has a DVD and a hard drive. Dell are pretty good starts around 350 for a basic model Use Topcashback to get 6% back

point3

How old is the laptop? If it's not too old and a decent spec, then it may be worth extending the warranty. They charged me £160 inclusive of VAT for 3 years Next Business Day Onsite warranty, so I'm covered until 2012.

They'll also replace any worn parts such as the palmrest/trackpad.

If it's under 2 years old then you could quote the Sale of Goods Act and mention that goods should have a reasonable life expectancy, at least 2 years and possibly up to 6 years. Suggest reporting the matter to Trading Standards and see where that gets you.

DatabaseError

maybe look on ebay for an identical laptop with a broken screen...get out the screwdrivers

aerostar

Even if it is out of warranty, the laptop must be of durable quality, if it has failed just out of warranty then it is not very old.

Have a look at either the BBC watchdog site about your consumer rights http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/consumer_law_sale_of_goods_emp.shtml, also the oneshow website http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/consumer/2009/07/03/sale_of_goods_act_letter_downl.html, there is a lot of interesting info.

Also check with Trading Standards.
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs/buying_goods_your_rights.htm#your_legal_rights_when_you_buy_goods

If you have had your goods for more than six months when they go wrong, you can still ask the trader to repair or replace them, but you may have to prove that they were faulty when you bought them if the trader doesn't agree. You can ask for a repair or replacement at any time up to six years after you bought the goods (five years in Scotland), as long as it is reasonable for them to have lasted this long. If the goods go wrong after six years (or five in Scotland), you no longer have the right to ask for a repair or replacement.


Do NOT assume that as it is just out of warranty that you have no claim, you probably have.

Do some research you may save yourself a packet.

fwor

I'd go with what aerostar and point3 say - if it has failed after only a couple of years and has been looked after, it was not made to an acceptable standard.

I would also have doubts about whether Jaws would run acceptably well on a netbook - my experience with a similar product suggests that they can be resource-intensive. I tried HAL on fairly minimal hardware recently, and the lag made it unusable.

fiddiwebb

Have you checked Ebay?

There's quite a few Latitude MBs on there, depends which model though.

You would just need to find someone to fit it if you go down that route.

Leopard

Bear in mind, also, that if she needs to use to use CDs or DVDs (?) netbooks don't have an optical drive built-in.

Poor child; I feel so sorry for her (and you).

macman

OP, you say that you have a backup anyway, but the data on the hard drive should be quite OK, it's only the mobo that's failed. So just remove the hard drive, insert it in external USB caddy and you can copy whatever data you want from it.