At what point do I retire my laptop?

[Chaotic42]

I have a Pentium 3 laptop that has served me well for a few years. I bought it used off of the forums. It's had to have some minor home repairs, and it runs really hot, but it has been pretty faithful.

The power cord is now frayed beyond repair. A new cord would be ~$100, and the laptop goes for about $120 online.

It would be nice to have a relatively modern laptop, but I'd feel weird just tossing out a working computer (think rusty 80's Ford Ranger). What would you do? Buy a new computer for $400 or so, or keep this thing up and running?

I mostly use it to browse the internet and to connect to Teamspeak. I guess it would be nice to have a modern computer that I could take to work or to school when I go back.

What are your thoughts?

 

[dementedlemur]

What is the make and model of the laptop? Many universal laptop chargers can be had for well under $50 and can use a wide variety of tips for different laptops.

 

[Rottie]

I don't like the idea of toss old working laptop (AMD K6-2) but I am going to give it to my sister so she can browsing or search for a job so I bought a new laptop for myself.

 

[corkyg]

I don't understand your problem. Laptop power cables are those that run between the A/C Adapter and the wall. There are only two finds - those with 2 (figure 8) pins and triangular 3 pins.

If you are talking about the cable that comes from the A/C adapter and connects to the laptop, then that is another matter.

However, there are excellent universal replacements - none of which cost $100.

Cables

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
What are your thoughts?

Get rid of that POS - give it to Goodwill or whatever - and buy a modern lappy!

Um... Yeah, that's my immediate thoughts...

Hrm...

Well, you asked! 😀

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I don't understand your problem. Laptop power cables are those that run between the A/C Adapter and the wall. There are only two finds - those with 2 (figure 8) pins and triangular 3 pins.

If you are talking about the cable that comes from the A/C adapter and connects to the laptop, then that is another matter.

However, there are excellent universal replacements - none of which cost $100.

Cables

Unfortunately I'm talking about the part that runs from the power brick to the actual laptop. It's frayed badly. I called up Radio Shack and they said they had universal adapters for $99.99. Here's a pic of cord:

Pic

 

[corkyg]

OK - that's what I thought. The cost is for the entire A/C adapter plus the line cord and connecting cable.

That cable is a very simple cable, and it can be repaired by any radio/TV repair shop probably for about $25.

That's worth it. If you are handy and splicing, you could do it yourself. If the internal conductors are not showing, a few wraps with black electrical tape would prolly take care of it for the life of the machine.

Good luck!

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: corkyg
I don't understand your problem. Laptop power cables are those that run between the A/C Adapter and the wall. There are only two finds - those with 2 (figure 8) pins and triangular 3 pins.

If you are talking about the cable that comes from the A/C adapter and connects to the laptop, then that is another matter.

However, there are excellent universal replacements - none of which cost $100.

Cables

Unfortunately I'm talking about the part that runs from the power brick to the actual laptop. It's frayed badly. I called up Radio Shack and they said they had universal adapters for $99.99. Here's a pic of cord:

Pic

Well that's RadioShack for you. Did you try HP/Compaq site or even Newegg, Circuit City, or CompUSA?

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Here's a pic of cord: Pic

LoL!

Is that sitting on your coffee table or kitchen cabinet, et cetera?

Okay, I'm getting (ahem) the picture now... 😀

Look, on that power supply, it should have some specs, if you can read it through the grease - like 14.5 VDC @ such n' such amps - center pin positive or whatever.

Chances are, you can find something similar down @ Savers, Goodwill, an electronic salvage yard - a PS made for an HP printer or whatever, that will do the trick...

 

[corkyg]

I still am puzzled as to why repair is not considered? Actually some tape can fix it for next to nothing.

 

[geecee]

If it can't be fixed with some electrical tape, see if any of these work for you. Cheap (mostly under $30-40) and should prolong the life of your laptop if you don't really need the increased performance (or feel the need to drop substantial $).

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I still am puzzled as to why repair is not considered?

I agree!

Assuming this guy has two left thumbs, he could probably just take this thing down to a TV repair shop (or whatever) and have them solder a new end on it for $5.00 😀