How Do You Know When It’s Time To Throw Out A Laptop?

Before beginning this one, when I say “throw out”, that’s obviously optional. You can consider “throw out” to be the same as “sell on Craigslist or eBay”.

Here’s a recent experience that shows just how far some people will go to save a laptop.

I had a friend come over, and he said he was going to bring his laptop since he had stuff on it (documents) that he wanted to show me that were too much of an annoyance to email since they were sprawled out all over his hard drive. Okay, fine, no problem.

He brings over this old gray-colored clunky Acer laptop, and let me tell you… it wasn’t pretty.

The laptop was a big 17-inch-screened thing, however the screen was being held together by – and I kid you not – duct tape. The casing was literally falling apart, so he decided to tape the thing together. Did it work? Surprisingly, yes it did.

Also, the screen hinges were so shot it wasn’t even funny. They had lost all their tension, the hinge covers were gone, and the only way to keep the screen up was if you propped it using a pile of books behind it.

The laptop worked, and I give the guy credit for doing whatever it took to keep the thing running, but it honestly should have been tossed in the dumpster years ago.

With that little story in mind, here are my yes-or-no answers for when it’s time to throw a laptop out.

Chassis discoloration: KEEP

Over time the paint on the plastics for your laptop chassis are going to start showing their age. But does that doesn’t affect the laptop’s operation or performance at all, so it’s not a reason to throw the laptop out.

Chassis warping: THROW OUT

If there is any part of the plastics be it on the sides or bottom that is slightly bowed due to normal use, throw the laptop out. The heat is not dissipating properly, and ultimately what will happen is that the laptop will burn itself up. The case fan(s) probably don’t work nearly as good as they used to, but even if you replaced those, it doesn’t matter because the damage is done and will continue to happen. Once a warp occurs, the air flow is disrupted (or outright blocked) and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Monitor flickering: KEEP

When the monitor flickers, 99% of the time that’s not the monitor doing it but rather the small ribbon connector cable which at this point has broken slightly from the lid being opened and shut so many times. A replacement of that cable should fix the issue without a problem. This is NOT AN EASY FIX because it requires cracking apart the monitor and messing around with some very tiny screws, but the point is that it can be fixed.

You should be able to order the ribbon cable directly (it might even be on eBay from a search for your particular make/model), and provided with the cable should be a complete diagram of what to take apart and how to get the new cable in there.

If you know someone good at working with small electronics that knows how to read a diagram, it’s totally worth it to pay a guy to do this. Trust me on this one, because I’ve taken apart my fair share of laptop screens, and it’s never easy. Never. It has to be done slowly and methodically to get it right the first time.

“Wash” on monitor: THROW OUT

A “wash” is when you have a particular corner of the screen that looks like a large smudge that you absolutely cannot get rid of. There is no fix for this, and since the screen is the most expensive part of a laptop, it’s time to chuck it (you’ll spend more on just the screen than you would for an entire replacement unit – and I’m not kidding).

Busted internal wireless card: KEEP

Internal wireless cards on many laptops have a nasty habit of ceasing to work for basically no reason at all other than just wearing out, and they bust with no warning.

Use a USB-based Wi-Fi card instead. And no, they’re not the bulky things you remember. USB Wi-Fi cards are very itty-bitty these days and work great. I suggest getting this one from Amazon. Very cheap (under 20 bucks!), easy-install, works, and leaves nothing but a little nub on the outside of the USB port that won’t get in your way. Bear in mind it is Wireless N, so you need an N-capable router. However it’s most likely true you already have one, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

And remember: Ignore negative reviews on these things, because even if it only works so-so in your wireless environment, it’s better than no wireless. But chances are it will work just fine, and probably far better than the internal laptop card ever did.

Busted hard drive: KEEP

Hard drives, as you’re well aware, can be replaced easily. But I don’t suggest putting a ton of money into this.

It’s most likely true your busted laptop HDD is a standard 2.5-inch with a 5400 RPM speed and probably under 500 GB in storage capacity.

Yes, it’s true you could get a 1TB drive if you wanted to, but is it really worth it for an older laptop? Not really. You’re much better off saving a few bucks and going with a 500 GB HDD. This Western Digital 500 GB drive for example is almost 50 bucks less than than the 1TB.

I should note that you’re going to spend at least 50 bucks for a replacement HDD; that’s just the way it is. You could take your chances with a used HDD and save a few more bucks that way, but I wouldn’t.

Another thing I should note is to STAY in the 5400 RPM territory, because it’s probably true your internal fan(s) aren’t spinning as well as they used to. What I mean by this is that a 7200 RPM HDD would burn up in short order, so stick with 5400. Remember, it gets hot inside a laptop, and the 5400 is specifically designed to run cooler.

Unresponsive keyboard: KEEP

A keyboard swap-out for another is one of the easiest laptop repairs that even a novice can do. Search eBay for your make/model with “keyboard” in the search term and you should be able to locate a replacement for under 30 dollars. Documentation should also be readily available online (and maybe even a YouTube video) on how to replace the keyboard for your particular unit.

In many instances, a keyboard can be replaced without having to take apart the backplane of the laptop at all.

“Wacky”/Unresponsive trackpad: KEEP

The trackpad/touchpad is embedded in the palm rest, and this is replaceable – however it’s nowhere near as easy as replacing a keyboard. Many tiny screws involved.

Or, you can take the really easy way out, go into the BIOS, disable the trackpad and just use a plug-in USB mouse via one of the USB ports.

And by “wacky” above I mean a trackpad where the sensor starts to wear out, “go nuts” and has your cursor jumping all over the place.

Cracked hinges: THROW OUT

Hinges that crack come from bad design. If they cracked once, they will crack again, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. A flawed design is a flawed design, and that’s the way it is. Throw it out.

Busted ports (any): THROW OUT

A busted port or two (power port, USB port, audio port, etc.) usually happens when something is physically plugged into the laptop, then the laptop is knocked down somehow and whatever was in the port got a good hard yank, permanently busting the port.

Now you may think, “I’ll just get another motherboard that fits this model and all will be well.” No, all will be not well, because something on the inside of the chassis probably got busted along with the board. What this means is that even if you do repalce the motherboard, the chassis damage is still there, and things won’t fit right ever again; that’s why you throw out the laptop when this happens.

For the desperate: You could always run a busted laptop as a “half-top”

For those of you that just can’t bear to throw out a working computer, this is your final option. It’s a bit stupid, but an option nonetheless.

Okay, so the laptop works, but the screen is shot, the keyboard barely works, the trackpad isn’t in good shape, but other than that, it’s working unit.

Grab a screwdriver and take the laptop apart, with the goal of removing the screen so all you’re left with is the bottom half.

You can then operate the bottom half as regular PC. Connect a monitor, USB keyboard and mouse, and, well, that’s all there is to it really.

Why take off the monitor? Because it allows the unit to cool itself down easier when running. If you run it with the lid closed – even a non-operational monitor lid – things will heat up in there very quickly and cause a burn-up to occur. Without the lid, excess heat rises safely through the keyboard.

As said above, this is an act of desperation. But if the unit won’t sell for anything as parts (or if you’ve tried selling and nobody wanted it), a half-top setup is a good giveaway computer or just fun to have as a project.