Netbook Rant

A customer came in yesterday with an Acer netbook that was not booting up. The power light would turn on but that was it, no hard drive spinning and nothing showing on the display. If you look at previous posts I've ranted about netbooks and acers before. I'm not a big fan of netbooks as they are trying to cram all the functionality into a smaller size. If you feel you need to get one, don't get the cheapest one out there thinking it's going to last forever. As with most things in life, if the price is lower there is always a reason. The screens on netbooks have no metal edging or brackets to them unlike their bigger laptop counterparts. Cost savings. The hinges are only attached to the backpanel and are only held there by glue and small 1/8 inch screws. Cost savings. The fan is smaller because the whole laptop itself is smaller. Cost Savings. Most of the time no optical drive. Cost savings. Less connectors like USB, serial, VGA out, HDMI out, etc. Cost savings. Atom processor, this is the same processor I've seen used in high end home entertainment systems. Cost savings. Most netbooks that are below $300 have about 2 year lifespans, 3 if you are really careful.

If you still feel the need to get one. Look for a good Asus, Dell, Toshiba or Lenovo netbook and be prepared to spend $500 or more. I hope this helps you out when purchasing.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

4 broken laptops

Had a few calls from several customers yesterday. 3 were existing customers and 1 was a new one.

The first customer had a computer that was brought into the shop after another company had sold her a defective hard drive. After determining she had a bad drive I told her to go get her money back. She said she wanted to try to install the hard drive herself after getting another one and was going to install the operating system too. What she really needed help with was installing the necessary drivers for her computer and to get the files that she had backed up before the hard drive failed back onto the laptop.

The 2nd customer had a virus on his computer that has been going around since about June of 2009 under a variety of names. Basically, he was locked out of his computer and couldn't run any programs. Been seeing a lot of these.

The 3rd customer brought his computer in a while ago and was running out of space on his computer so the hard drive will possibly need backed up, wiped clean and have everything reinstalled.

The 4th customer had a water spill on his computer and it won't turn on. Could be coincidental that he has a bad DC power jack but unlikely. This will probably take a complete mobo(motherboard) replacement.



BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Data Recovery, Windows 7 Install

Got in the shop yesterday and within 5 minutes a customer walked in and asked if I could help with their desktop. They had a Windows Vista desktop that was giving all sorts of issues. They wanted to see if we could get the data onto an external hard drive and upgrade their computer to Windows 7. Spent the rest of the time replacing a hard drive and installing an operating system and drivers on a server for a vet clinic client.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

2 Dell 1525 Repairs, sound card

Had a couple of customers come in yesterday with broken 1525 Dell Inspiron laptops with very similar problems. The first customer's computer was the worst with the entire top portion of her computer separated from the bottom. It looked like someone had broken the laptop over their knee like a stick. The second one was very similar as the back of the right hinge had separated from the LCD cover behind the screen. Been seeing a rash of 1525 laptops with the same problem lately. Easily fixable, just a bit odd.

Last customer came in with a desktop that was having an audio card problem. Computer is 8-9 years old but still runs, just no sound. Should be an interesting one to diagnose.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Recent Work

Had a couple of computers that needed a new screen come in today. Also did some work for a vet clinic to upgrade their computers to meet the minimum specs. Some of the computers were not upgradeable so I had to replace them with some more modern computers. Customer couldn't have been happier, now they want me to replace the old personal computer in the back office. Picked up another customer too and became their sole IT person for their psychology office. Been a busy month and I certainly can't believe it's October. Christmas is less than 3 months away, wow. Try contacting us if you need some help for some gift ideas.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901