Laptop - Repair or Replace?

love_lifer

Hello all

I have a 2 year old Samsung 300 E5C a05 and the jack needs replacing plus some other problems related to this, meaning it'll cost £70 plus to fix.

Is it worth spending money on or do I cut my losses and get a new one? The last laptop I had only lasted 3 years, it seems they aren't built to last. I use it at home only for browsing, photos, downloading and documents. I don't need state of the art, just practical and robust.

Any thoughts?

Fightsback

Who quoted you this price ?

It's a couple of quid for the replacement part and less than an hours work.

Shop around, definitely worth keeping.

J_B

I suspect that the more knowledgeable folks on here would need to know what exactly a 'jack' was, what the other problems are and who quoted you for doing exactly what??

Fightsback

J_B wrote: »

I suspect that the more knowledgeable folks on here would need to know what exactly a 'jack' was, what the other problems are and who quoted you for doing exactly what??

Probably the usual, declutter.

love_lifer

I googled and wanted to do it myself but the information I read said it was complicated and involved soldering so I took it to a local place. I couldn't get the back off- and I'll turn my hand to most things but this was potentially too far out of my skill zone. I am wary of throwing money away if it's going to keep going wrong. It's a great machine but seems rather delicate. Or perhaps I'm too heavy handed

googler

J_B wrote: »

I suspect that the more knowledgeable folks on here would need to know what exactly a 'jack' was, what the other problems are and who quoted you for doing exactly what??

A 'jack' is a generic term for a 3.5mm socket, designed to take a 'jack plug', for headphones, microphone, etc.

Wikipedia - "In the UK, the terms jack plug and jack socket are commonly used for the respective male and female phone connectors. In the US, a stationary (more fixed) electrical connector is called a "jack".

OP - you can get a Behringer UCA202 or similar and get audio out from USB instead of using the headphone socket, if that's what you need.... less than £20, and better quality.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/391034474885?adgroupid=13585920426&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=kwd-75951454866&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=1007326&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&ff19=0&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=207297426&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80

What else is wrong with it? Perhaps we can help with that too?

Fightsback

love_lifer wrote: »

I googled and wanted to do it myself but the information I read said it was complicated and involved soldering so I took it to a local place. I couldn't get the back off- and I'll turn my hand to most things but this was potentially too far out of my skill zone. I am wary of throwing money away if it's going to keep going wrong. It's a great machine but seems rather delicate. Or perhaps I'm too heavy handed

All things have failure points, jack plugs and sockets being extremely common. Still plenty of life left in the sammy yet, however it's your choice.

Think of this, you buy a new laptop and how much has it depreciated in value after a year vs what it has cost to do the repair on the sammy. If you get 12 months out of the sammy you are still up. It's asset sweating.

love_lifer

Good points, thanks. It's the socket the power plug goes into that is knackered. Cheap part but repair I can't do. Repair place have said it won't power up despite the replacement. Will call up and see for myself plus speak to them about it

Fightsback

love_lifer wrote: »

Repair place have said it won't power up despite the replacement. Will call up and see for myself plus speak to them about it

?

Need more info

Have they already put in a new jack socket but it's still not working ?

love_lifer

They just rang. They've put a new socket in but it still won't power up. He thinks the motherboard may need Replacing - I've forced the jack into the socket a few times I'm embarrassed to admit. That would cost £200???

Fightsback

It's possible one of the mini surface mount fuses has blown on the mobo, a motherboard replacement may not be necessary.