If I knew how much it would cost to repair, I would have purchased a new computer – Listen, we are going to be the first one to tell you that it’s not worth repairing. New computers are cheap, yes, but the cost is not just in acquiring a new computer. It is also in the setup. Printers, Email, Antivirus, etc don’t usually come pre-installed and they don’t usually install themselves when you click GO. Data doesn’t migrate itself properly, regardless of Microsoft, Belkin and PCMover’s marketing slicks. Our goal has always been to repair for a fraction of the cost of replacement, but when the time is right, we won’t hesitate to tell you to start over. Life span is simple and relatively consistent among types of computer.
Desktops – 6 years, Laptops – 4 years, Netbooks – 2 years (estimate – it’s a new category). We are basing this on several factors. The first is wear and tear – laptops are much more fragile than desktops. Lots of heat, vibration, movement, starbucks (for the caffeine junkies) really kill a laptop. So do 3 year olds. People are more careless with laptops. Laptops are the SUV of the computer world. Most of them looked rugged, but don’t take them off-road or they will get stuck. The second thing that causes laptops to have a shorter lifespan is lack of upgradability. A new technology comes out (the newest to deal with are HDMI, eSATA, and soon, USB 3.0). With a desktop, if you want that capability, you buy a new card. With a laptop, yeah you can add it externally, but that defeats the point of an all in one computer.
