Laptop hardware failure and maintenance.

[Solodays]

In the past 5 years of owning a desktop, i have encounter quite a few of hardware failures, powersupply and dvd-rom. if there are any components that fails on me, i will most definitely know how to replace them all with new parts. and im pretty confident that i could build my own desktop.

i just brought my first laptop and was just curious to know if maintenance is any diff from desktop? so..if something goes wrong, ranging from cpu,ram, graphic, hd, powersupply,motherboard, etc are they replaceable or r u pretty much screwed if something goes wrong? what scares me the most is a faulty monitor.

 

[TheStu]

RAM, HDD, Optical Drive, keyboard and wireless card are all usually dirt simple to replace in your average laptop.

Processor (if it is socketed), motherboard, display, and DC board. If you can get to these at all, you sometimes may be better off selling whats left of the machine, and buying a new one. motherboards are notoriously expensive, and depending on what brand of laptop you got, the display can be the same way.

Graphics. Depending on the brand of laptop, and what kind of graphics you got, this can range anywhere from dirt simple to replace all the way up to 'throw the laptop away, lest you spend $500+ to replace the graphics'

 

[Solodays]

if something does go wrong, where do i buy new parts? i really dont feel the need to send it in, when i could do it myself. there aren't anything i couldnt fix on my desktop, i hope this goes the same on my laptop. what about power supply, cpu fans, touch pad etc...

 

[Old Hippie]

First thing you wanna do, is locate a tech/disassembly manual. Some are easy to find, some are located at Fort Knox.

if something does go wrong, where do i buy new parts?

The simple stuff, as Stu mentioned, can be found everywhere. I always start with Ebay for anything else.

 

[corkyg]

Some brands are easier to replace parts in, i.e., they use modular components. Finding repair manuals is a Google task - most are in PDF format. eBay is a great place to start - sometimes by acquiring a complete duplicate laptop for controlled cannibalization.

I am on my 6th laptop since 1995. In all that time, I have replaced one floppy drive and one battery, and one optical drive. I replace hard drives regularly, but only for reasons of upgrade.

Taking care of a laptop does require a little more effort than a desktop.