Repair or replace
your computer?

It isn't worth it when the repair quote, added up in full rather than part by part, comes close to the price of an equivalent new machine, or when the computer can no longer run an operating system with security support, even if the fault itself is cheap to fix. That second reason is the one most often overlooked because you don't notice it when you switch the machine on: it works just as it always did, it simply isn't safe to connect it to the business network any more. There is a third sign, harder to admit: when the fault the customer brings in is the second or third in a few months on the same machine. At that point the problem isn't the part that failed, it is that the whole machine is reaching the end, and replacing parts one at a time just prolongs the agony instead of solving anything. Always ask for the full quote before deciding, never part by part.

Five to seven years for an office laptop is an average, not a guarantee: within that range there are big differences depending on use. A machine that travels every day, takes knocks in a rucksack or runs for long hours without a break ages faster than one that stays put on a desk, because accumulated heat and knocks wear out the battery, hinges and motherboard early. The price bracket matters too: a computer bought at the lowest possible price usually reaches three or four years with symptoms a mid-range one doesn't show until after six. And there is a limit that has nothing to do with how well you treat it, which is software: once the manufacturer stops supporting that generation, the countdown is set by the calendar, not by physical wear.

Before spending anything, notice when the slowness appears. If it only takes a long time to start up and then runs reasonably well, it is almost always software: programs that open by themselves at startup that nobody remembers installing. If it is slow all the time, even with few things open, and the disk light flickers non-stop, the main suspect is a mechanical hard drive acting as a bottleneck, and switching to an SSD usually fixes it completely. It is different if it runs fine with one thing open and grinds to a halt as soon as you open several at once: that points to not enough memory for what you ask of it today, not for what you asked of it when you bought it. In that case, if the memory can be upgraded, that is cheaper than replacing the whole machine; if it can't, that is when replacement starts to make sense.

The table in the article gives the general rule by age, but two details can change it. One is whether the rest of the casing is sound: a screen broken by a knock on a laptop that is otherwise immaculate is a clear case for replacement, but if the frame is cracked too or the hinges are already loose, the new screen doesn't sit well with the rest and won't last long. The other is the availability of the part: for models more than four or five years old, finding the exact panel gets harder and more expensive, and sometimes only replacement parts of lower quality than the original are available. If the laptop is always used at the same desk, another option before deciding is to plug it into an external monitor while you weigh up the rest: it deals with the urgency without spending on the part while you decide whether repairing or replacing the whole machine makes more sense.

It depends a lot on what was spilt on it. With plain water, with no salts or sugar, the chances of it starting up properly after drying and cleaning are quite high if you acted quickly. With coffee, soft drinks or any sugary liquid, it is a different story: as it dries it leaves a sticky, conductive residue that keeps causing short circuits days later even if the machine seemed to recover, so the cleaning has to be more thorough, not just leaving it to dry. If you can remove the battery without forcing anything, do so before anyone switches it on by mistake. And bear in mind that the diagnosis isn't always immediate: sometimes the machine turns on the first day and fails two weeks later, once corrosion has spread inside. That is why it is worth having it checked even if it seems fine, especially if it holds data that isn't copied anywhere else.

The first step isn't opening the laptop, it is checking the exact specification sheet for the model, because the same manufacturer sells versions with upgradeable memory and versions with soldered memory under the same commercial name, changing only the suffix of the model number. If it is upgradeable, check too whether it has one slot or two: with a free slot you can add memory without touching the existing module; with the slots already occupied, you have to replace the modules, and mixing memory of different speeds isn't always worth it because the whole set ends up running at the speed of the slowest module. How noticeable the upgrade is depends on what you use the machine for: if you work with lots of browser tabs open at once or with editing software, the difference is clear; if it is email and basic office work, the bottleneck is probably elsewhere and the upgrade will be less noticeable than expected.

Before assuming it is the motherboard, it is worth confirming the diagnosis, because some faults look like it without being it: a power supply failing intermittently, a loose or damaged memory module or a flat motherboard battery can produce symptoms almost identical to a genuine motherboard failure, and they are far cheaper to fix. If the diagnosis confirms it is the motherboard, on a desktop it is also worth checking compatibility before deciding: replacing it sometimes means changing the processor or memory as well if the model is no longer made, and then the sums get closer to a new machine than they first seemed. On a laptop, unless the machine is recent and high-end, it almost always makes more sense to put that money towards a new machine than into a repair that is still a patch on a computer that was already on its way out.

If it was a company machine, there is a step the general list doesn't cover that shouldn't be skipped: getting or keeping a record that the drive has been wiped or destroyed, with the date and which machine it was. It doesn't need to be anything complicated; an internal document or the waste contractor's delivery note is enough, but if you ever have to prove that the data no longer exists anywhere, that record is the only proof. For personal use, before selling or giving away the computer, sign out of every account and unlink it from any services that remember it as a trusted device, rather than just deleting files. And if the machine works but no longer suits you, consider giving it to someone with fewer demands rather than selling it for very little: for browsing, writing documents or making video calls, a computer from a few years ago is still perfectly good even if it can no longer handle demanding work.