For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856253
Viv's laptop - a six years old - a mere stripling in our domestic appliances - started making "I need a new fan" indications. Turns out all it needed was a decent dusting inside, but Dell claimed it was obsolete (despite selling the exactly the same thing in this year's model) and parts were unavailable. I reckon it's got at least another four years in it - her last one she wore the keyboard out.

Here's hoping the UK enacts the same laws in the next year or so as the EU.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856262
Yet more back to the future, I've been DIY repairing stuff for donkey's years when I can get the parts. Getting a man in is a different kettle of fish unless design means repair can be done quickly.
#1856263
<aviationward drift :oops: >

One of the (many) local aviation companies (which has also been both generous and otherwise helpful to JAM :thumright: ) does good business making small runs of approved parts for older CofA (and military) aircraft large and small, whose OEMs have either gone out of business or who have declined to restart the particular production line.

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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856277
Dell are amongst the best for supporting older devices and one of the very few who will supply parts at all. So love them or hate them, they're not the ones to pick a 'right to repair' battle with.

Six years old - especially if it was a 'consumer' product rather than a business one is definitely way beyond EOL. Your best bet would be scavenging on eBay for parts.
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856291
OK I work for Dell. The issue is that laptop/desktop/server parts availability is maximum 5 years & can be shorter. We will only do maintenance contracts for 5 years max because of this. It is driven by the market & its suppliers.
I'd also say that at 5 years old replacing it with a new one will see a considerable performance increase. My personal one is 7 years old & despite only being used for browsing & email is getting very slow. I get a new work one every 3 years & each new one is a quantum leap over the old one. Although generally they are still working OK with decent battery life.
#1856333
Mostly it's not the parts that are the problem. It's the labour. When you have to pay £80-£100 for a callout to disgnose, then another £80-£100 for the same guy to bring the parts he's sold you....and then it still may not work, you can see why people buy a replacement.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856338
If you can get the parts - there used to be maintenance instructions available on how to fit them (I haven't looked) for most Dells. Most of the tasks are well within the realms of DIYers on Dells when you are outside warranty periods (for certain things you may need extra equipment or paste). Unlike anything Apple related, which normally requires having to break seals and glue. Some parts are designed for consumer replacement or upgrade (generally hard disks; batteries; RAM).

Everything isn't perfect of course (there were known issues with some models, such as batteries expanding or cases cracking) but generally pretty good.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1856348
I like Dell. I can see three from where I'm sitting including the one I'm typing on. When I've shelled out for onsite maintenance it has been courteous and efficient. The maintenance manuals are good and I've bought parts before from them - in fact a shiny new NVMe "disk" is on its way at the moment for the same laptop to extend its useful life. Just surprised in this instance that one of the few moving parts was not a common repair item.

Modern computing devices are miracles of technology and it seems a crying shame to toss them long before all the parts are worn out.
tr7v8 liked this
#1856395
Flyingfemme wrote:Mostly it's not the parts that are the problem. It's the labour. When you have to pay £80-£100 for a callout to disgnose, then another £80-£100 for the same guy to bring the parts he's sold you....and then it still may not work, you can see why people buy a replacement.


Still significantly cheaper than your average lawyer or surgeon, and their trades don't change on a daily basis!
#1856396
tr7v8 wrote:OK I work for Dell. The issue is that laptop/desktop/server parts availability is maximum 5 years & can be shorter. We will only do maintenance contracts for 5 years max because of this. It is driven by the market & its suppliers.
I'd also say that at 5 years old replacing it with a new one will see a considerable performance increase. My personal one is 7 years old & despite only being used for browsing & email is getting very slow. I get a new work one every 3 years & each new one is a quantum leap over the old one. Although generally they are still working OK with decent battery life.


It's not normally the hardware getting slower, it is the awful bloatware created by Microsoft doing it.
#1856429
Sooty25 wrote:
Flyingfemme wrote:Mostly it's not the parts that are the problem. It's the labour. When you have to pay £80-£100 for a callout to disgnose, then another £80-£100 for the same guy to bring the parts he's sold you....and then it still may not work, you can see why people buy a replacement.


Still significantly cheaper than your average lawyer or surgeon, and their trades don't change on a daily basis!

I understand the problems and frequently have a go myself. But for the average punter the numbers just don’t stack up; pay around £300 and, maybe, get something fixed or just buy a new one for (often) less than £500. If something doesn’t get fixed first time it’s a losing game.
#1856442
It is in fact the "average punters" fault why 5 year old kit is often unrepairable. The constant demand for bigger, faster, better, at a cheaper price, means 5 year old kit has no value financially or technically.

In 90% of cases a failed piece of kit over 5 years old isn't repaired due to specification, so there is absolutely no incentive for manufacturers to support product over that age. Pandering to tight old duffers who want to self repair, isn't high on manufacturers agendas. It's called "the throw away society" and we are the odd-balls!
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