My laptop died. Need a replacement—what should I get?

Hey everyone. So, my old laptop—a Dell Latitude 5520—finally gave up the ghost recently. Just as the warranty expired, too, because of course it did. The motherboard bit the dust. I sent it off for a diagnostic, but honestly, they couldn't even pin down the exact failure point. Anyway, I’m looking to pick up something in the $667 range since my wife needs a machine for work, though I was hoping I might be able to scavenge some parts from the old Dell to help out.

I was browsing Best Buy and saw some decent deals on laptops that come with a 5-year warranty, so I'm wondering if any of these would allow me to swap in a DVD drive, upgrade the RAM, or maybe even swap the processor—since the specs on this Dell aren't actually that bad, at least in my book.

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Regarding this second one, I'm curious if I could transplant the DVD drive from the Dell and perhaps tack on another 4GB of RAM.

My wife works at a school, so having an optical drive is pretty much a non-negotiable requirement for her. On top of that, I'm planning to pull a 128GB SSD from my own rig and pop it in there to save a few bucks.

Does anyone see a viable path here—either building a Frankenstein machine from these parts or perhaps finding a way to actually fix the old one?

Thanks in advance!

crimsonlynx23 said:I saw some pretty decent deals on laptops at Best Buy with 5-year warranties...

People always say, "Yeah, right, like a Best Buy warranty actually means anything." 😉

Here’s what happened to me:
- Hey there, I bought a computer from you guys five months ago, and something broke—it won't turn on. I've got the warranty.
- No problem at all. Just heads up, it might take maybe two weeks.
- Two whole weeks? Well, okay, I guess since it's under warranty, I don't have much choice.
Two weeks later:
- Yeah, we checked the computer, found the issue, just waiting on parts now.
Twenty days later:
- Yeah, it says right here that the hard drive and motherboard are shot, we're still waiting on parts, don't worry, we'll call you.
Twenty-five days later:
- Still waiting on those parts. We know it's been a while, but they should be arriving any day now.
Thirty days later:
- Look, the parts should be here any second, we'll reach out as soon as they arrive.
After 33 days:
- Unfortunately, we have to deny your repair request. We determined that the damage was caused by user error.
🤷

@ crimsonlynx23:

Maybe tell me where you sent it for diagnostics? It’s still not clicking for me why you can't pin down exactly what's broken...

Swapping parts from one laptop to another isn't just a "plug and play" thing. A lot of specs have to line up, and the labor for taking things apart and putting them back together costs money. You can't just slap an SSD in there if there's nowhere to put it. Most laptops don't even have an M.2 slot, and even if they do, they aren't the standard SSDs you're looking at. Usually, you'd swap out the DVD drive for an SSD caddy, but if you actually need the DVD drive, then you're stuck.

Don't even bother looking at these laptops. They all come with pathetic processors that crawl along like they're dying, and they won't even compare to that i3 in the Dell. Plus, those CPUs aren't even upgradeable.

I see two ways forward. First, try getting the laptop professionally diagnosed—find someone who actually knows how to run a proper diagnostic so you aren't just guessing. The specs on this machine are decent enough that replacing the motherboard might actually be cheaper than buying a whole new rig.

The second option is to just buy a decent new laptop—not one of these cheap junkers—and sell the old one. I'm pretty sure that i3 isn't soldered to the board, so it still has some value, along with the DVD drive, RAM, keyboard... maybe a few other bits. If the screen is good, that alone is worth a few hundred bucks, which helps offset the cost of a new one.

Personally, I'd start with the diagnostics. If you haven't tried Geek Squad yet, give them a shot; they handle this stuff and have the gear for reballing if it turns out to be a bad solder joint on the motherboard.

Geek Squad

If you decide you definitely want something new after that, you'll need to look at a higher price bracket, like these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/11778...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12701...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/13025...

But let me know what you decide...

@ James Lee77:

I hope you didn't give up. Get everything in writing and then take it to whoever you need to—Consumer Reports, the BBB... Tell them how much coverage they'll get in the media.

And definitely get aggressive with the importer and the manufacturer. Just make sure you have all your documentation ready.

It’s always the same old story... you pay through the nose and still end up empty-handed. 🙂

I sent my machine off privately to some tech specialist out in suburban Chicago—he used to run a full shop but does private repairs now—and I've heard nothing but good things about him. Apparently, even the big-name repair centers send stuff his way when they hit a wall. He’s telling me there's a short on the motherboard that he hasn't quite pinned down yet. The weird thing is, the laptop just died mid-use—completely out of nowhere. I tried the usual troubleshooting nonsense, pulling the battery, holding down the power button for an eternity, all that jazz, but nothing worked. Ever since it cut out, it's been a total brick.

Honestly, my first choice is to get this specific unit fixed. I was actually happy with it, and let's face it, it wasn't exactly cheap.
I think I'll give Geek Squad a call and see what their take is. Who knows, maybe they'll even know the guy I sent it to.

Cheaper move is grabbing a used motherboard on eBay, then pairing it with a pricier new laptop.
Might be able to snag a board for around $100...