Laptops age differently to phones. A well-built machine can comfortably run for 6-8 years, but knowing whether your current fault is a minor repair or a sign the whole machine is on its way out takes a proper audit, not a guess.

Faults that are almost always worth fixing

• A cracked screen or dead backlight
• A worn keyboard or sticky keys
• A swollen or failing battery
• A loose charging port or DC jack
• A failing hard drive, especially if you upgrade to an SSD

Each of these is a contained, well-understood repair. They don't affect the rest of the machine, and fixing them can add years of useful life for a fraction of a replacement cost.

Signs it's genuinely time to replace

• Motherboard failure, particularly on older or discontinued models where parts are scarce
• The operating system has stopped receiving security updates
• Multiple faults appearing at once - battery, screen, and performance all failing together
• The laptop can no longer run the software you actually need day to day

The rule of thumb

If a repair costs less than roughly a third of a comparable new laptop, and the machine still meets your needs otherwise, it's almost always worth fixing. Above that, or with multiple faults stacking up, it's worth pricing out a replacement properly.

Repatch can run that audit for you. Book a repair, we collect your laptop from home or work, a professional technician diagnoses the fault, and gives you a clear repair price - often with a same-day turnaround - before you decide anything.