Well, after about three hours on the phone with Sony yesterday, we determined that the video problem I was experiencing with my Vaio was definitely hardware-related. Fortunately I was able to boot up and access my files over the network so I was able to back everything up before scragging the drive in an effort to do a system recovery.
So, the next step is to send it to Sony. They’ll charge me a minimum of $27 just to look at it. Then it’s $250 for a minor repair (keyboard, small parts) or $800 for a major repair (motherboard, LCD screen). Fortunately, they give you the option of notifying you before they do a major repair so if that’s what it takes, I’m going to tell them to just send it back and we’ll do something with the parts.
In the meantime, we went to Beast Buy last night and bought a Compaq Presario (gotta work that 12-month-same-as-cash, baby!). Being extremely gun-shy after my last laptop biting the big one after 14 months, I also bought the extended warranty for an extra $250. The good news is that if Sony comes through I can return the laptop within 14 days, though I’ll have to pony up a 15% restocking fee.
So let’s do some math, shall we?
Option 1: Sony can’t fix laptop cheaply
Shipping laptop to Sony $46
Diagnostic fee $27
Return shipping $25
Presario $1150
Extended Warranty $250
Sales tax $80
Rebates -$250
TOTAL: $1,328
Option 2: Sony can fix laptop cheaply
Shipping laptop to Sony $46
Diagnostic fee $250
Presario restocking $175
TOTAL: $471
Well, if they can do it cheaply, we won’t come out too badly. Not exactly an expense I was looking for while unemployed, of course…
Well, I’ve mentioned before that there’s all kinds of work for ChemE’s here in Houston.
http://www.houstonemployment.com/
Best Buy extended warranties good…
My laptop’s battery pack lost most of its capacity 9 months into ownership. Handed the whole laptop + battery back to them for a few days. It came back with a brand new $200 battery pack for $0 cost to me. Not bad for a $225 warrantee. And I’ve another year or so to go.
Does point out the need for capability to back up the hard drive before servicing–which PowerQuest’s Drive Image did fine for me.
Hope you find a solution to your liking, Dunc, and not too hard on the wallet.
I paid $1300 for my Presario at Bad Buy…a 533 Duron (at the time, one of the quicker notebooks out there). It was and still is one of the stablest, all-around-good laptops I’ve seen. I’ve since replaced it as the technology marches on, but it continues to run nicely and serves as a chats machine around the house.