JustKneller
Habitué
- Messages
- 1,001
So, here's the situation. I game on a gaming laptop (Lenovo Legion 5) that I bought just months before COVID. This laptop probably got me through COVID relatively sane. I mean, I had/have the wife and kids, but let's be honest, the impact of family on sanity can be a little mixed (and I'm being very diplomatic here). It has been a great laptop, and largely due to the whole COVID thing, I'm a bit sentimentally attached to it. Even without that, it still performs well and runs the games I play on high quality without any hardware issues. The only problem is that the keyboard is a little beat up at this point and some of the keys are unreliable. A couple have popped off, but I've been able to get all but one roughly back in place. It's no surprise. Between gaming and the monstrous amount of typing I do for tabletop, I'm surprised the keyboard lasted this long. So, I need to replace it (hence the link I posted recently about weird keyboard prices).
Normally, I do my own repairs. Especially on a desktop, it's not that hard. Laptops can be a little tricky, though. For this laptop, I can't just pop off the keyboard from the top and pop the new one in. Instead, I have to go in from the back, pretty much gut the thing, and then basically replace it from behind. It's not outside my skill set, but watching YT videos on the process made me feel like I was watching open heart surgery on my own child. I literally shuddered at the point the laptop was stripped down. That being said, it's not like there's a ton of parts involved. It's maybe a half hour to strip the laptop down, put in the new hardware, and put it all back together.
But, I figure, no problem, I'll just hire someone to do it and save myself the psychological trauma. I start googling around for laptop repair, and I find four options.
1) Best Buy. Anyone worth their salt knows that the Geek Squad who works out of there is both overpriced and underqualified. I wouldn't trust them with a pocket calculator.
2) Another "medium box" retailer. There is an electronics store nearby with their own computer repair team. It's not a big box store, but they have a small number of locations across the U.S. I've honestly never even heard of them before this issue (since I do my own work and buy parts online), but I asked around and checked reviews and heard next to nothing bad about them. I stopped by yesterday to show them the patient and what needs to be done. First, they have a 4-6 week wait time on work since they are so backed up. Second, they quoted me $150 for something that I know is just a half an hour worth of work and I'm even providing the parts.
3) A local independent specialty computer repair shop. They have a website and good reviews. They have a location right across town from me. Or so I thought. I called them and nobody answered. I messaged them through their website and never heard back. I stopped by the location and it didn't exist. Ok, then.
4) Another independent specialist, no brick-and-mortar location. I was able to get him on the phone. He quoted me around $100 for the job. However, he doesn't have a shop. Instead, he drives out to your place, picks up your laptop, takes it to fix it, and then brings it back. Allegedly. I talked to him on the phone and so many red flags popped up with this guy. I'm not saying he would necessarily take my laptop and run, but I could see so many ways this could go wrong.
One thing that surprised me a little with this is the cost of labor compared to the time involved for the labor and really the simplicity of it. On the other hand, they are providing this service for people who can't or don't want to figure it out for themselves, so I guess that gives them a little latitude to pad the price of things. In any event, I think this leaves me with having to do this repair myself. I'll back up everything important to a hard drive in case it goes horribly wrong, but it really doesn't seem that hard, technically speaking. I'll have to plan time for it when the kids aren't home so there's no disruption (there's no where I can spread out around here that the kids can't get to). But, if I disappear, then things went south and I'm shopping around for a new laptop.
Normally, I do my own repairs. Especially on a desktop, it's not that hard. Laptops can be a little tricky, though. For this laptop, I can't just pop off the keyboard from the top and pop the new one in. Instead, I have to go in from the back, pretty much gut the thing, and then basically replace it from behind. It's not outside my skill set, but watching YT videos on the process made me feel like I was watching open heart surgery on my own child. I literally shuddered at the point the laptop was stripped down. That being said, it's not like there's a ton of parts involved. It's maybe a half hour to strip the laptop down, put in the new hardware, and put it all back together.
But, I figure, no problem, I'll just hire someone to do it and save myself the psychological trauma. I start googling around for laptop repair, and I find four options.
1) Best Buy. Anyone worth their salt knows that the Geek Squad who works out of there is both overpriced and underqualified. I wouldn't trust them with a pocket calculator.
2) Another "medium box" retailer. There is an electronics store nearby with their own computer repair team. It's not a big box store, but they have a small number of locations across the U.S. I've honestly never even heard of them before this issue (since I do my own work and buy parts online), but I asked around and checked reviews and heard next to nothing bad about them. I stopped by yesterday to show them the patient and what needs to be done. First, they have a 4-6 week wait time on work since they are so backed up. Second, they quoted me $150 for something that I know is just a half an hour worth of work and I'm even providing the parts.
3) A local independent specialty computer repair shop. They have a website and good reviews. They have a location right across town from me. Or so I thought. I called them and nobody answered. I messaged them through their website and never heard back. I stopped by the location and it didn't exist. Ok, then.
4) Another independent specialist, no brick-and-mortar location. I was able to get him on the phone. He quoted me around $100 for the job. However, he doesn't have a shop. Instead, he drives out to your place, picks up your laptop, takes it to fix it, and then brings it back. Allegedly. I talked to him on the phone and so many red flags popped up with this guy. I'm not saying he would necessarily take my laptop and run, but I could see so many ways this could go wrong.
One thing that surprised me a little with this is the cost of labor compared to the time involved for the labor and really the simplicity of it. On the other hand, they are providing this service for people who can't or don't want to figure it out for themselves, so I guess that gives them a little latitude to pad the price of things. In any event, I think this leaves me with having to do this repair myself. I'll back up everything important to a hard drive in case it goes horribly wrong, but it really doesn't seem that hard, technically speaking. I'll have to plan time for it when the kids aren't home so there's no disruption (there's no where I can spread out around here that the kids can't get to). But, if I disappear, then things went south and I'm shopping around for a new laptop.
