New Hard Drive? Or New Laptop?

[TorachiKatashi]

Most of the people here are much more knowledgeable about technology than myself, so I'm looking for some advice.

A few months ago, the hard drive crapped out on my laptop (or rather, my father dropped the laptop on the floor and something cracked inside the hard drive). I ended up getting this desktop I'm on now mostly because I was getting sick of playing WoW on a laptop.

I still want to get the laptop repaired so that I can have internet access the two days a month I actually leave this room to go visit my aunt, and to have as a back-up should anything happen to the desktop and it need to be sent out for repairs.

The thing is, though, that the laptop is, I'm sure, three or four years old, and has had the hard drive replaced at least four times. So what I'm wondering is, given that I won't often be using the laptop but that it has so far had a bad track record, would it be more cost-effective to replace the hard drive (was priced at something like $250, but I may get a little shaved off by my father's cousin replacing it for me and my only having to pay for the hard drive), or to just buy a new laptop?

All of my stuff has been moved to this desktop, so all it would really need is enough memory and such to play WoW and get online, and maybe enough memory just to serve as a back-up for my more important stuff for school and such. What are the odds of my being able to find a relatively cheap laptop that I can do those things on?

I'd ask the guys at the computer store about it, but I'm entirely confident their opinion would be that I should just buy the most expensive laptop they have.

[Master Gunner]

If all you need the laptop for is to get on the internet, and nothing strenuous like gaming (except for older games, of course), then I'd say just get a new hard drive. That way if you ever do get a new laptop, you should be able to swap the hard drive over if its a larger one, and/or get an external enclosure, and give yourself an external HD for backup or what have you.

[iEatNinjaZ]

Get a new harddrive.
I suggest a solid state drive, they are much faster than spindle drives.

[TorachiKatashi]

If all you need the laptop for is to get on the internet, and nothing strenuous like gaming (except for older games, of course), then I'd say just get a new hard drive. That way if you ever do get a new laptop, you should be able to swap the hard drive over if its a larger one, and/or get an external enclosure, and give yourself an external HD for backup or what have you.

Does WoW count as strenuous? Other than some old silly game I got in a cereal box when I was six that I might play in the event my servers are down, that's the only thing I'd be playing on it.

Get a new harddrive.
I suggest a solid state drive, they are much faster than spindle drives.

I have no idea what either of those mean, but I'll write them down and tell the guy that (and make it sound like I know what I'm talking about). xD

[Master Gunner]

A spindle drive is a traditional hard drive, with those spinning platters in it. A solid state drive is basically a massive flash drive.

EDIT: Here's a picture, the one on the left is a spindle drive, the one on the right is a solid-state drive.

[Lorithad]

The best course of action would be to buy the replacement hard drive yourself. Notebook hard drives aren't much money. NCIX has all sorts of them. And they do price matching, so you can get it for way cheaper than the 250 you were probably quoted by your manufactuter.

If you want, I'll help you pick one out.

[theDreamer]

Also solid state drives are harder to break.

[Lorithad]

They also cost a great deal more per gigabyte than conventional drives. Granted, they're also faster for read and write speeds. But still not practical for your average user.

[Master Gunner]

Does WoW count as strenuous? Other than some old silly game I got in a cereal box when I was six that I might play in the event my servers are down, that's the only thing I'd be playing on it.

WoW came out about 5 years ago, and you played it on your laptop before. I don't think it'll be a problem.

[jtaylor]

Other than some old silly game I got in a cereal box when I was six that I might play in the event my servers are down, that's the only thing I'd be playing on it.

Are you talking about Chex Quest?

[Sable]

I LOVED CHEX QUEST.

That's all I really have to add!

[Cake]

Why does it cost $250 to put in a new hard drive? It should be like, $75 new, tops. Putting them in is easy enough as well. Open hatch, pull old drive out, put new drive in, close hatch. Yes, it's that simple. So buy a new hard drive, and replace it yourself. Geez, that's worse than charging $150 to reinstall Windows.

[Lorithad]

Actually, its more like:
Pop off screw covers
Unscrew screws holding drive tray in.
Remove drive tray
Unscrew and remove drive from tray
Remove notebook HDD connector adapter thing from old HDD
Attach notebook HDD connector adapter thing to new HDD
Place new drive on tray and screw new hdd to tray
insert drive tray.
Put screws back in.
Put screw covers back in.

//former HP notebook tech support guy.

[MarkVI]

If all you want the laptop for is the internet, then get a netbook. You can buy a decent one brand new for $300.

[gcninja]

Actually, its more like:
Pop off screw covers
Unscrew screws holding drive tray in.
Remove drive tray
Unscrew and remove drive from tray
Remove notebook HDD connector adapter thing from old HDD
Attach notebook HDD connector adapter thing to new HDD
Place new drive on tray and screw new hdd to tray
insert drive tray.
Put screws back in.
Put screw covers back in.

//former HP notebook tech support guy.

poor you i hate hp

but
A)not all have screw covers
B)you make it sound like so much work when ive done it enough times to say its 15minuts at most for a person whos never done it

[Wraith]

Actually, its more like:
Pop off screw covers
Unscrew screws holding drive tray in.
Remove drive tray
Unscrew and remove drive from tray
Remove notebook HDD connector adapter thing from old HDD
Attach notebook HDD connector adapter thing to new HDD
Place new drive on tray and screw new hdd to tray
insert drive tray.
Put screws back in.
Put screw covers back in.

//former HP notebook tech support guy.

Or, if it's a Macbook, throw it away, and buy a new one. Modular/easy upgrade construction isn't in Apples vocab.



I know, I know, I said I wouldn't talk smack about Macs anymore. But the past few weeks I've actually had to WORK on them, which I thought would lessen my hatred of them as I came to better understand them. All it's done is make me go "wtf? I haven't exagerating all these years?!"

[Wraith]

If all you want the laptop for is the internet, then get a netbook. You can buy a decent one brand new for $300.

I hate netbooks. They're cool for a few things, but in general, they just make me feel like an ogre. They keyboard's too big to use my thumbs and too small to use my giant-assed hands. It makes me wanna just smash it while shouting "RAAAAGH! WRAITH SMASH PUNY NETBOOK!" like some kind of gamma-powered monster.

[Master Gunner]

My brother got a netbook recently, and I've had larger/easier to use PDA keyboards. Then again, I also preferred the original xbox controllers, and can't stand the newer mini ones.

When it comes to Macs, I had to use in Media Pro, and the only advantage to them that I could find was the greenscreening in Final Cut was better than in Premiere. Which was completely undercut by the lack of functionality elsewhere.

That's neither here or there though. Replacing laptop hard drives is no more difficult than doing it on a desktop.

[Metcarfre]

Or, if it's a Macbook, throw it away, and buy a new one. Modular/easy upgrade construction isn't in Apples vocab.

Haha, yeah, good thing my iBook's been going strong for four years now. Macs are for us that are averse to things like this thread.

Replace a hard drive? Whaaaaaa...!?

[Lorithad]

poor you i hate hp

but
A)not all have screw covers
B)you make it sound like so much work when ive done it enough times to say its 15minuts at most for a person whos never done it

I hate HP too. Hated them before I started working for them. Probably started to hate them even more once I started working for them. But those times are long over now. So I hate them just as much as any OEM.


As far as netbooks go, I bought one of the first generation Asus eeePCs. 4GB solid state hard drive baby. I've had it for about a year and a half now. And aside from the one stuck pixel on the screen, I haven't had any problems with it at all. Sure, i've had to relearn how to type on it. And sure, I wish that i'd have waited to get the slightly larger screen, as 800x480 resolution sucks ass. But it's still great for web surfing, email, music, and word processing. Which is exactly what I bought it for.

[TorachiKatashi]

The problem with a netbook is that with being so small, it's bound to be a strain on my eyes and as such, yet another migraine-trigger I don't need. Besides, I sort of doubt I could play WoW on it. Believe me. I've been without WoW since last weekend while I wait for my parents to sort out the crap with their credit card and I'm half gone insane. It's definitely a deciding factor.

I have a friend who is always working with computers, so I imagine he could put a new hard drive in for me in no time. I'll have to ask him about this whole solid hard drive thing and see if he can't get me one and put it in for me.

[Master Gunner]

Speaking as a guy who is often called for things like that, can you change the batteries on a remote control? If so, you are fully qualified to change the hard drive in your laptop. If not, how the hell did you manage to get on the internet?

[TorachiKatashi]

Speaking as a guy who is often called for things like that, can you change the batteries on a remote control? If so, you are fully qualified to change the hard drive in your laptop. If not, how the hell did you manage to get on the internet?

It's not so much not being able to do it as it is, y'know, being afraid I'd break it.

[Master Gunner]

I highly doubt you're any more at risk of breaking it than I or your friend would be. They're not something you want to drop, but most computer parts aren't exactly china.

[Metcarfre]

COMPUTERS ARE SCARY

IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?