Primum Non Nocere: The Reality of Laptop Repair
Table of Contents
Do No Harm: To the Customer’s Wallet or Their Computer#
I run my business a little differently. I don’t believe every problem needs to be turned into a bill. Sometimes the right fix is to fix it – and sometimes, especially with laptops, the right fix is to not fix it.
Sounds backwards, right? Let me explain.
Most Laptops Aren’t Made to Be Repaired…#
Modern laptops aren’t built with future repairs in mind. They come apart like someone designed them specifically to punish the next person with a screwdriver. Screws hide under rubber strips, bezels crack if you look at them wrong, and some models have multiple incompatible parts that all pretend to be the “right” one.
If you want the full story, see my article: How They Lock You Out
Do No Harm – Laptops and Phones#
The stark reality is this: laptops and phones have a very high cost-to-substance ratio. They don’t welcome repairs easily, and some of that is the natural result of their size, while some of it is by design.
Not everything is a conspiracy – the smaller and more powerful a device gets, the less it is made to be repaired by the human hand. It’s not necessarily engineered solely to stop you from repairing it. This is especially true of phones, which have become our modern micro-supercomputers.
This is somewhat true of laptops too, although I could easily make the argument that laptops could be designed for modularity just like desktop computers. But since that isn’t presently the case, it’s often better to adapt rather than repair.
When to Not Repair, or When to Adapt#
The Don’t Repair Scenario#
I recently ran into a situation where a customer needed a fix for a cracked laptop screen. This isn’t 1995. We can’t just replace the glass. We have to replace the entire screen assembly. Simple enough – just order a new screen, right? Around $120 or more for the part alone.
So we check the make and model and try to coordinate the part. Nope. This particular laptop had several possible screen variants, and ordering the wrong one is a gamble entirely at the customer’s expense.
So what now? Ask the customer to come back, open the machine, and read the exact panel part number. And that’s where the snowball starts: extra time, extra labor, potential damage risk, and rising costs. All for a cracked screen.
That’s a serious amount of financial pain just to solve a minor quality-of-life issue.
My advice in this case? Live with the crack.
The Adapt Scenario#
A customer contacted me after their laptop’s hard drive failed. I could tell from our remote conversation and the screenshots they sent – the system wasn’t limping; it was completely gone.
Rather than turn this into a long, expensive operation with part orders and days of waiting, I handed them a bootable Ubuntu Live USB so they could get back online immediately. A Live USB lets the laptop run a full operating system straight from the removable drive, bypassing the dead hardware entirely.
In this case, it made far more sense to adapt and stop the pain than to monetize a machine that’s already fragile by design. Sometimes the smartest fix is the one that gets the customer moving again without dragging them deeper into a device that may not be worth the investment.
Do No Harm#
Small and powerful devices like laptops and phones are very expensive and very compact. Much like my simple Casio digital watch, they aren’t meant to be approached with a soldering iron or a common tool kit. They are made to have a short life and then be replaced.
A Second Life#
In my prior work as an internet tech, I installed Linux Mint onto several machines that were otherwise considered doomed – and it worked.
If the computer were a living thing, it would probably beg you:
- Don’t risk breaking me with impractical repairs.
- Don’t throw me away.
- Let me live longer with a crack or a smart workaround. I can still be useful.
Give the computer a second life by handling its lifespan wisely. Sometimes doing no harm – or adapting instead of repairing – is the best course of action.