MacBook Pro, Sony or Samsung ? Need new laptop asap

NiftyDigits

rufydoofyM wrote: »

:)Thanks for all the input. It's the MacBook pro with the optical drive that is being considered but with added software and a portable hard drive and 3yr warranty. My bro recons we will need to spend £1600 to include a memory upgrade.
Does anyone have any thourghts on the Sony or Samsung options ?
Our last laptop was an HP Pavillion, it was 5yrs old and oh bought his fist down on the keyboard during an argument and it now has a big dip inthe keyboard. Damage is centre right. It powers but then asks to select an operating system but doesn't show any to select. It then gives the option to load drivers. We did a set of back up disks when we got it but I think we messed up somewhere !
Really grateful for the help.

Seriously, who needs to spend that much on a laptop unless it's for business?

Just sounds like he has dislodged the hard drive. What is under the dip? Any visible damage or just the keyboard? All keys working? You need to remove the hard drive to retrieve your stuff anyway. If the caddy idea doesn't work, then you may just have to replace the hard drive to get the laptop working again.

All stuff you can do by yourself. Do be afraid to undo a few screws and to take a look.

rufydoofyM

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Seriously, who needs to spend that much on a laptop unless it's for business?

Just sounds like he has dislodged the hard drive. What is under the dip? Any visible damage or just the keyboard? All keys working? You need to remove the hard drive to retrieve your stuff anyway. If the caddy idea doesn't work, then you may just have to replace the hard drive to get the laptop working again.

All stuff you can do by yourself. Do be afraid to undo a few screws and to take a look.

Agree it does seem a lot to spend but we want something that will last and brothers lmac and original laptop are still going strong at 7yrs old. There appears to be fewer virus threats etc than with windows machines.
Would really like to know if anyone has experience with Sony or Samsung after sales service.

As for our deceased HP laptop the keys seem ok but the keyboard does feel a bit springy. Can't see under the keyboard. Neither of us would have a clue or the confidence to open it up or even what to look for. However as you say it may be that with a new hard drive we could have it working again so will look into that. It would be useful have a second back up laptop. Any idea how much a new hard drive is likely to cost ? IT repairs seem really expensive our way.

NiftyDigits

rufydoofyM wrote: »

Agree it does seem a lot to spend but we want something that will last and brothers lmac and original laptop are still going strong at 7yrs old. There appears to be fewer virus threats etc than with windows machines.
Would really like to know if anyone has experience with Sony or Samsung after sales service.

As for our deceased HP laptop the keys seem ok but the keyboard does feel a bit springy. Can't see under the keyboard. Neither of us would have a clue or the confidence to open it up or even what to look for. However as you say it may be that with a new hard drive we could have it working again so will look into that. It would be useful have a second back up laptop. Any idea how much a new hard drive is likely to cost ? IT repairs seem really expensive our way.

Don't be ridiculous. Confidence is exactly the right word. You can and will be able to do it. You just imagine that you cannot.
There are some laptops where it can be a bit fiddly to replace a hard drive, but many are very user friendly.
I'm not short of a few pennies, but it really is satisfying to fix things yourself. It's only if you are really time-poor or if you don't have fingers or toes that you should consider farming the work out.

Replacing RAM and hard drives are generally easy-peasy. Budget £50 or so for a new hard drive.

Do you understand what full model number means?

Then we can take a look to see if there will be any likely complications.

As for going strong....a modern budget laptop will likely outperform most seven year old laptops anyway. I'm posting on a four year old laptop that cost me £250. Annoyingly, I have a brand new replacement that I can't use because this one keeps on going. Doesn't even have a scratch on it.

rufydoofyM

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Don't be ridiculous. Confidence is exactly the right word. You can and will be able to do it. You just imagine that you cannot.
There are some laptops where it can be a bit fiddly to replace a hard drive, but many are very user friendly.
I'm not short of a few pennies, but it really is satisfying to fix things yourself. It's only if you are really time-poor or if you don't have fingers or toes that you should consider farming the work out.

Replacing RAM and hard drives are generally easy-peasy. Budget £50 or so for a new hard drive.

Do you understand what full model number means?

Then we can take a look to see if there will be any likely complications.

As for going strong....a modern budget laptop will likely outperform most seven year old laptops anyway. I'm posting on a four year old laptop that cost me £250. Annoyingly, I have a brand new replacement that I can't use because this one keeps on going. Doesn't even have a scratch on it.

Thanks, that's me told:D
It's an HP dv6750ea
My oh is undoing it as I type (currently using the bb playbook)
There are 2 panels on the back and he has taken them both off.
What does the hard drive look like please?

NiftyDigits

rufydoofyM wrote: »

Thanks, that's me told:D
It's an HP dv6750ea
My oh is undoing it as I type (currently using the bb playbook)
There are 2 panels on the back and he has taken them both off.
What does the hard drive look like please?

You'll find most of the info you need here

NiftyDigits

Replacing the Hard drive

NiftyDigits

2.5" SATA to USB Hard Drive Caddy HDD Enclosure Case £3.25.

Once he has removed the hard drive, he takes it out of the cage and puts it in the caddy. Then you can plug it into any computer and retrieve the info(if the hard drive is working)Once you get a new hard drive, you put it in the cage and replace it in the laptop.
But only buy the enclosure at this stage.

If you find that you can get your info back by using the enclosure, it means that the hard drive is still working and perhaps only the contacts were dislodged by the thump. So just check that the contacts are firm and try booting up again. Once you know what the problem is, you can tinker around a bit.

rufydoofyM

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You'll find most of the info you need here

Have removed 20+ screws and in trying to remove the back the keyboard and attached stuff has been bent and it is now ******* ! And still can't see the hard drive as the bottom won't budge. I guess that's it and we go back to searching for the new one.
This is why we don't tinker ourselves. We know our limitations but oh doesn't like to be beat.

NiftyDigits

What?? Did you actually look at the PDF file that I sent to you in post #17? Why were you removing all of that other stuff??

rufydoofyM

NiftyDigits wrote: »

What?? Did you actually look at the PDF file that I sent to you in post #17? Why were you removing all of that other stuff??

Unfortunately no. We tried to do it after post 16 and having checked thread have w seen your additional post. We thourght we had to take the whole of the back off. I'm sorry but we obviously mis understood. Have now removed hard drive after looking at the PDF.