Nephtys wrote:I've got a local shop that'll charge me 250 for screen and replacement. I'm thinking that's worth it, given that the component won't be cheaper than 200 on ebay and I don't trust myself to replace it. 250 is practically free installation, and they'll do it within a day I can pick up. Minimal hastle...
I guess I'll rely on that if I can't find a wayo ut.
That's a damn good deal.
The cheapest I saw the panel for on fleabay was in the $220 or so range and if I can replace a panel in an hour or so with only the Dell disassembly guide to go by, I'm sure an experienced tech can do it in less.
If the shop has a good rep, I'd advise 'go for it'.
OTOH, if you want to make a quick $50...
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
It might not be a bad idea to plug the laptop into an external screen and check that there aren't any other problems before you start spending money on it.
Spyder wrote:It might not be a bad idea to plug the laptop into an external screen and check that there aren't any other problems before you start spending money on it.
I plugged it to an external and backed up data. I'm not sure if there's any issues yet, but I'll be sure to check. Hardware damage is subtle and hard to detect unless it's a major fault, sadly. :/
If not, consider this a learning experience and make your next laptop purchase a Dell or a Lenovo with the optional 'complete care' warranty that even covers user damage such as this.
I'd stay away from Dell laptops. Not because of quality problems (although the charger on one I bought in 2004 failed), but because of their relatively clunky, bulky design. Dell just doesn't "get it" when it comes to laptop computers, in my opinion, and designs them using the same philosophy that works successfully with Dell desktops, and thus should be avoided.
"Here's a nickel, kid. Get yourself a better computer."
The higher end Inspirons and Latitudes are pretty nice machines, but I agree that they aren't as 'sexy' as some of the competition.
However, my experience with Dell tech support is very positive once you get them to understand that you need hardware repair/replacement.
Their Indian call center people work off of a script and will not deviate from it even if you know the problem is hardware related and just need an RMA to send the machine in for repair.
But once they get to the point where the script says 'send it in', Dell is excellent at sending you a postpaid shipping carton for laptop warranty service and the turnaround time was about a week, which IMHO is pretty good for a consumer low end (my old 1100, not the 9300 I currently use) machine.
I've heard that Lenovo has really good customer service as well.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
