I have a notebook PC that won’t even power up. After discussing the possible issues with Dell, the tech support person informed me that replacing the AC adapter and motherboard would probably do the trick. I replaced the AC adapter first, because that was the cheapest fix – $80.23 after tax. Well, that didn’t solve the problem, so I checked out the price of a new motherboard – $403 before tax – for a refurbished motherboard that carries a 3-month warranty, doing the work myself.
I looked up the trade-in value: $0. If I want to recycle it, it’ll cost me $17 for shipping and another $15 to have my data erased from the hard drive.
I looked up the price of a newer version of the same notebook – a Dell Inspiron 1525. The new one’s processor is three times as fast. It has over six times the hard drive storage capacity and six times the memory. It carries a 1-year warranty. The cost? $579 before sales tax.
I’m returning the AC adapter and sticking with my desktop PC for now.
I think it should cost less to fix something than replace it. Wouldn’t that be the green thing to do?
