Repair or replace? How to work it out

Start with what the machine is worth

Look up what the same model costs used today. That figure is your ceiling. As a rule of thumb: if the repair costs more than half of what the machine is worth, think twice. If it costs more than the machine is worth, the answer is no.

The cheap faults

Four things are behind the large majority of enquiries, and all four are cheap to fix compared with a new machine:

• The battery no longer lasts a working day. A battery is a wear part — it gets replaced after a few years, like tyres on a car.
• Too little memory. A machine with 4 GB feels dead today; at 8 or 16 GB it feels like a different computer.
• An old hard disk instead of an SSD. That single part makes the biggest difference to how the machine feels day to day.
• Dust and old thermal paste. The machine runs hot, the fan gets loud, and performance is throttled automatically.

The expensive faults

Motherboards, hinges that have torn the chassis apart, and liquid damage sit at the other end. On an older machine they almost always exceed its value. Screens sit in between: the price varies a lot by model, so get it quoted before you decide.

Count the time too

A new machine has to be set up, software installed and files moved. For a company that is often half a working day per employee. That time costs money too, and the cost disappears if the old machine simply keeps running.