My cousin Jessica's laptop screen died a few weeks ago. With her new baby, she didn't have money to have it repaired at a store or money get a new one right now; so we did some searching on ebay and I was able to find her a brand new LCD screen for $79. Her warranty was expired. (If she had taken it somewhere they would have charged $199+ for a new screen plus repair fee's).
I've done repairs on my own laptop before. I've replaced the keyboard, replaced casing, etc. So I was pretty confident I could repair her LCD display after looking at her HP G60 service manual online. I also ordered her a new LCD inverter for $5 since it works together with the display. It took about 3 hours- (I kind of dropped one of the tiny screws in our dining room carpet lol! It took forever to find it!). HP had the LCD data cable running under the hinge, which is a really strange spot because as you open & close the laptop it wears down the wire. I moved it so it was over the hinge. Her laptop is working just fine now, I returned it to her this evening and she was very happy to have it back!
I also got a new cell phone on Ebay brand new. I love my Blackberry- but I hate how with Blackberry Curve it will freeze up and you'll get the hourglass and you'll have to pop out the battery to reset the phone. (It does it often!) I can't get any upgrade deals with T-mobile because I'm on a special $59.99 plan with 500 minutes unlimited nights & weekends and unlimited texting & data. That was the catch to sign up for the plan- I would have to pay full price for a new phone, no special price upgrades.
I'd been looking at the Motorola Charm for a little while so I did some searching on Ebay and was able to win a brand new one for $149. (T-mobile is charging $269 full price). It also came with a car charger, headset, 2 batteries, 2 back doors. It has a touch screen but it also has buttons like a Blackberry. It's also Android so I had to call T-mobile to switch over my data plan.
It's really a nice phone, I love all of the features, how it backs up my contacts into my Motoblur account online. How it streams all my networking sites into one window on the phone for quick updates.
What I hate though is the battery drains extremely fast! It came with a regular and extended battery and I have the extended battery in the phone. Even with a full charge and screen dimmed all the way, by the time I was heading home on the train after work at 4pm the battery so low (30%) it shut off my data service to save energy. I had to order another extended battery on Ebay and I'll carry that & the regular one for emergencies. I remember I had the same issue with my Motorola Razr before. I would have to keep a back up battery with me at all times.
We are trying to do the Dave Ramsey. We just finished baby step 1. We are trying to do step 2 which is paying debt. I hope we will pay off credit card this year too!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, about the computer, I can tell you have a future with that. My husband was like that before he became a technician. He would install stuff on his on and he learned from his own trial and error.
I plan on working on paying off a few credit cards too though I have a bit more than a few thousand on them.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's amazing that you fixed her laptop! Nice job! I have no idea about the inside of a computer.
ReplyDeleteGreat find on the phone! I hear ya with the debt. I gave me dad my American Express card to hold. I was spending $300-$400 a month on random stuff! No wonder I have no money!
Here's to a better 2011! xo
Jacki & Patti- love fixing computers eventually I want to go to evening school for it once F.B. is here & working. I've just learned on my own from the internet and reading the service manuals for the laptops.
ReplyDeleteSteph- I really have to try to put at least $160 a month towards this card- my tax refund will go towards it also. I've seen it growing steadily- being furloughed didn't help because I had to take a $400 cash advance also. It's the most I've had on a credit card and I want to pay it off this year! Btw- my goal prize will be paid in cash. :-p once I've freed myself of the credit card debt!
wow im so impressed!! now i know who to send my laptop too when it breaks :P
ReplyDeleteawesome phone, its really nice!! i wanted av razor years ago but didnt because a lot of people warned me about how bad motorola baterries were. :P