When considering purchasing a new laptop, ease of repair and maintenance is an important factor to consider. Devices that have easy access to their internal components can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
A laptop isn’t the easiest electronic device to repair. Other than the memory, storage, and maybe the Wi-Fi card, there’s not a whole lot you can replace. With modern laptops becoming thinner and lighter than they used to be, most components are now soldered directly onto the motherboard, meaning the only realistic repair is to replace the entire motherboard. Check out the features and specifications to consider when buying a high-performance laptop.
At this point, it's understandable that most people would opt for a new laptop.
When shopping for a laptop, there’s a lot to consider, from performance requirements to connectivity options. But if you want your laptop to last as long as possible, it’s also a good idea to keep an eye on the repair options available.
Why bother buying a repairable laptop?
Most high-performance thin-and-light laptops are beyond repair. To make laptops increasingly thin and light, manufacturers cram as many essential components as possible. This means that almost everything is soldered onto the motherboard and packaged in a way that makes it extremely difficult to repair or upgrade.
A repairable laptop is good for you and the environment. If something goes wrong with your machine, you can replace the part instead of buying another one, which can be much cheaper, as you might expect. You also end up throwing less e-waste in the landfill, helping to keep the Earth greener.
In general, older laptops tend to be more repairable. If you're buying a new laptop, getting something like a laptop from Framework It's your best bet. However, enterprise-level laptops from Dell, Lenovo, and HP also tend to be easy to repair. You can check your laptop's repairability scores at iFixit For more options, check out Is a modular laptop the best way to build your own custom machine?
How to Choose a Repairable Laptop
So, let's say you're looking for a laptop that's easy to repair and you don't mind the size or reduced performance. There are still some hurdles to jump through, as it can be difficult to tell whether a laptop is repairable or not just by looking at pictures or online reviews.
No laptop is beyond repair, and a skilled person can bring even the most difficult laptop back to life. However, here are some things to look for if you want to know if the next laptop you buy is easy to repair.
How easy is it to disassemble?
While it’s not always the case, laptops that are easy to access tend to be more repairable. Manufacturers don’t want you or unauthorized repair shops to open their laptops and fix them, so they make them difficult to open in the first place. For example, you may find Torx Security screws instead of regular Torx screws, which are meant to make it harder for the average person without the necessary tools to disassemble the laptop.
If your laptop only requires you to remove a few screws to gain access to the internals, you can probably do some basic repairs. If you see more screws that allow you to disassemble the cooling system or the entire motherboard, it means you can do more advanced repairs like changing the thermal paste or even replacing the keyboard.
Memory type
LPDDR5X memory offers super-fast speeds, but it’s also soldered directly onto the motherboard, meaning you won’t be able to replace or upgrade the memory. Additionally, there’s a chance that any cooling solution your laptop uses could cover the memory, making potential repairs difficult.
Memory type and speed are often among the most popular specs in a laptop, so if you see a laptop with LPDDR5X memory that tops 7,000 MT/s, it probably won’t be easy to fix. Laptops that use swappable SODIMMs tend to be easier to work with, albeit at the cost of slower memory speeds, or you might consider a machine with the new, premium LPCAMM2 memory.
Check storage options
Almost every laptop on the planet, no matter how hard to repair, likely has replaceable storage. However, some laptops, perhaps most famously the MacBook, now have soldered SSDs. Yes, it improves performance, but it makes upgrading or replacing your storage nearly impossible.
It would be best to aim for laptops that have at least one PCIe or SATA slot so you can add or upgrade storage. If you’re using a Windows laptop, you’ll probably be fine here. As for a MacBook, it’s not impossible to repair or upgrade the storage, but it will cost you a significant amount of money. Check out How to Add More Storage to a MacBook: Methods That Work.
Wi-Fi cards and network connectivity
With newer laptops moving to Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, there’s a good chance your laptop’s Wi-Fi card is soldered to the motherboard. However, there are still a large number of laptops that feature replaceable Wi-Fi cards.
Generally speaking, the Wi-Fi card that comes with your laptop isn’t going to be perfect, and you’re going to run into Wi-Fi issues at some point in your laptop’s life cycle, as I’ve had with several laptops from different manufacturers. Sometimes the fix is a driver update, but otherwise, you’ll thank yourself for buying an easy-to-fix laptop when you replace that old card with a new one. Check out how to replace a Wi-Fi adapter on your laptop.
the battery
The battery is also one of the areas of a laptop that can be easily replaced because it tends to be the first component to fail. You may even be able to fix your laptop's charging port depending on its configuration.
So unless you’re dealing with something like a MacBook, battery problems are likely to be easy to fix. Regardless of the battery chemistry, fixing battery problems on any laptop should be a simple matter of disconnecting the old battery and putting in a new one.
By going the extra mile and getting a laptop that’s easy to repair, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor. Sure, the performance won’t be top-notch, but unless you’re looking for that, most laptops that meet your requirements will have some degree of repairability. Now, check out How to Upgrade Laptop RAM: A Step-by-Step Guide.
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