Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Laptop repair costs
My unreliable ASUS laptop has carked it again, must be about the tenth time since purchase, bloody mongrel of a thing.
Anyway, enough of that - time it was looked at by someone who knows what to do. A new local repair firm has opened, and charge $50 per hour for computer servicing and repairs. Other companies around here charge over $80 per hour.
What sort of hourly repair rates have you experienced when having your pc or laptop repaired, and does $50/hr seem reasonable? I think it does, but would like to know what others have experienced.
Ecotech Power
I use to charge $60 p/h + GST so $66, when working in a computer shop.
I now do after hours support, and change $40 an hour plus GST, but if its a 3:00am Call out, I will change my rate to suit.
$50 seems very reasonable if they know what they are doing, and dont charge an arm and a leg for parts or stupid amount of time.
Time should only be counted as the time spent in front of the computer. i.e A Windows XP install may take 3 hours, but tech time is normally up to 40minutes.
Originally Posted by alien
Donating Member
What problems are you having with it??
CHECK OUT MY RIDE
IF I WAS HELPFUL TOO YOU CLICK MY SCALES
"Girls are like domain names, all the good ones are taken."
Nil Bastardo Carborundum
For some months, it would only do a partial boot-up. The hard drive light would flash and the ASUS name would appear on the screen and it went no further. You had to turn off and reboot, sometimes two or three times, to get it to continue past the ASUS name.
Last week, it stopped even going that far. I took it to the repairer and his opinion was that the motherboard had died. I intend to call on him today to get the final verdict, but I doubt that it will be getting repaired.
I would never recommend the ASUS brand to anybody. We purchased two of them in 2006 and 2007 and both have died. The first one killed its HD within 13 months, then the MB carked it about 12 months later. The second, the one we are referring to, lasted only about two years before it started giving trouble. Now it's dead too. Definitely a crap branch in my book.
Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Well, just picked it up. Dead screen - cost to repair exceeds the value of the laptop. However, they also found that the BIOS was in need of a fiddle and that it will work as a desktop with a separate monitor. Even turning it on now, it definitely seems to be doing more - the power pack can be heard running smoothly but is more audible than previously, the lights flash as they should and it would probably boot up properly. Problem is, I can't see a thing. I don't have a monitor to try it out, but will give it a run later.
Total cost for the estimate and BIOS testing and adjustment - $25. I reckon that was pretty fair value.
Ive had good experiences with asus. Ive had my asus (Asus M6A series) for about 4 years now, and its still great. only issue i had was ac jack on the rear crapped itself, so i opened laptop and re soldered it. If you know its the LCD thats stuffed, and not the motherboard, LCD screens can be had from ebay for about $100. might be worth doing yourself.
Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Well, actually.....
After about a further month of not using the laptop, because I had my son's available, it came time to boot the old bastard up...with the help of a monitor donated by another member of this forum. (to whom I am most appreciative).....
and it failed - miserably. Locked up again, took at least four to five boot-ups to completely start up, then, after only about four minutes, it died again.
This time, there was no mercy shown. It was literally hurled across the room. That finished it. I removed the RAM and chucked the mongrel thing into the garbage bin. It was removed later that day by the garbo, along with the rest of the bin's contents.
I now have a new desktop, 23 inch monitor, decent RAM, 1TB HD, (plus my original 1 TB External HD,), yadda yadda yadda.
And it works, as you would expect. No more frustration and, from my experience with two of their laptops, no more ASUS products.
:):):)
Sorry to hijack
My Acer aspire 5920 shat itself
The ac jack has come loose and gone inside
I got a quote for like $500 from acer
Appently noone works on laptops these days
Any ideas?
Ecotech Power
I guess its to late now to say it would have been fixable, but may not be worth the cost being an older laptop, they are becoming disposable sadly. But I can definitly say I have seen my fair share of Laptops been thrown, punched and kicked. Replacing screens on "slow" laptops was quite common due to people putting there fist or boot through them lol.
Acer are a straight out rip-off for there repairs, have shitty service and are prick to deal with from home-user to corporate.
Any computer shop should be able to fix a broken Ac jack for less then 1 hour/rate
:):):)
Ohok sweet cheers slot of them said they don't work on laptops but I'll go into some shops thanks
Donating Member
Nil Bastardo Carborundum
Yep, it probably was repairable, but with a dead screen and other obvious faults, it was well beyond economical repair in my book, despite having been purchased new only in 2007. Keep in mind that it was actually my son's, and I had bought a similar model about six months previously and they had both died. My poor opinion of ASUS is based on two duds, not just one. I think they are rubbish.
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