After almost four years of using my Inspiron 1520, its age finally caught up with it and its light literally went out.  The backlight refuses to turn on now.  I came back from Berlin last Monday and found my computer in this state.  I left it off during that time too.  During this time, I had trouble doing any blogging and uploading any photos.

Google told me that the problem lay with either a loose connection, the inverter or the lamp.  I tried to check this out myself and open the computer case, but the screws refused to budge.  People online somehow got theirs open, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, my warranty expired so I’d have to pay to get this computer fixed.  I looked at my options on the Dell site and the North American Dell Support refused to help me and kept referring me to the European side even though I bought my computer in Canada (I really don’t know what these guys at the call centers are doing).  After about three calls to the support line, I finally found someone helpful and she told me that I had to change my laptop registration such that it showed a European location before I could get it fixed.  An alternative option would have been to send the computer back to Canada to get it fixed.

What I did instead was just buy a new laptop.  My laptop is already super old and already can’t really keep up with my tasks anyway, so I suppose it’s time for an upgrade.  What surprised me was that laptops in Germany (from their Best Buy/Future Shop equivalents anyway) cost so much more than in North America.  In fact, it was cheaper for me to buy my computer in Canada and get my parents to ship it to me rather than buying it locally.  I’m sure there are cheaper places, but I don’t exactly know how to look through all these German websites.  Another added advantage in buying from Canada is that I’d have a computer with the US Keyboard layout rather than the German one.  And in the future when my laptop needs repairs, it’ll be easy.

In the meantime, I’m using a 17 inch LCD screen that I borrowed from a friend.  This will suffice until my new computer arrives.  No more shining a lamp at my computer screen and squinting my eyes to see the screen anymore.  I also don’t need to be using my phone to go on the internet at home either.

Virus & Spyware Removal

Best Buy: Apparently they charge a whopping $249 for in home or in office service and $189 for online service or in store support.  This package includes:

Looking at each of these items are the list, these are all things that people could do themselves for free if people took the time to learn.  Some of these tasks take only a few minutes to do.  For example, malware removal just takes a few clicks on the antivirus and the rest is just waiting for results.  Updating the system just requires getting Windows Update to look for them.  Actually, Windows will even tell you that you need to update.  It is just that a lot of people ignore it or disable automatic updates.  Backing up the files on the computer only requires moving files from the computer to an external storage device with a simple drag and drop.  The time consuming part isn’t moving the files, but is actually thinking of what files need to be backed up.  Geek Squad can’t help with that.  Anybody that knows how to use a computer should be able to do that.  And if people don’t have access to external storage, their friends most likely do.

The rest of these services provide little detail about the extent of their service.  Formatting the computer solves most software issues, but a fix like that is quite brute force and not extensive at all.  On the other hand, an extensive fix means determining which piece of hardware or software is responsible for the problem.  Say that the client gets a blue screen or that Explorer is crashing repeatedly.  Solving this problem requires knowing what people do on the computer.  But the problem is that some people are not even aware of what they did (whether directly or indirectly) to cause the computer to behave a certain way.  These computer problems make formatting an attractive repair option.  Again, this fix takes only a few clicks, and the rest is just letting the computer do what those clicks told it to do.

A few minutes worth of work to save over a hundred dollars.  Even if someone is new to computers, a quick Google search will show solutions to these problems catered to beginners.  Sounds like a bargain to me.

Security and Performance

Here are more crazy computer repairs/maintenance services that Best Buy offers.  A little more reasonable this time.

Yet again, Best Buy charges people for easy fixes (see the first nine included services on the list).  They are all quick things that people can do on the computer if they put the time in (see pseudo-rant in the previous section).  One thing here that people that I can see people would pay for is physically setting up the computer, but people should not have to.  It is really not that hard.  In grade 3, my mother set up the computer all by herself, and she had never touched a computer in her life before.  It was mostly typewriters back then.  Organizing the wires and cables is an even less daunting task than setting up the computer.  It merely involves taking wires and cables together, wrapping them together and putting them neatly against the wall so it doesn’t look ugly.  Some would say that organizing the wires isn’t even necessary because people don’t even see the mess of wires behind the computer even if it was there.  The next thing on the list seems like a good idea at first, teaching people how to use a computer.  But realistically speaking, people will always forget.  Like many stereotypical middle aged and older people, no matter how many times they are taught to do something on the computer, they will inevitably forget.  The last three things on the list are a joke.  Simply knowing how to read will allow one to complete those tasks.  People do not need to pay so much to get a computer fixed.

Wireless Networking

Here are more things that people pay for at Best Buy.

Three words for people who pay for this.  Read the manual.  Reading the manual for the router not only teaches people how to hook it up, it also tells people how to set up your entire network complete with enabling the router’s security features.  They don’t even have to purchase an upgrade to install an additional device!  The manual explains how.  All that is required, is pretty much plug in the cable in the spot that the manual says and it will work.  Taking thirty minutes to read the manual to connect to the Internet can help save you $169.  Even better deal than switching to Geico for car insurance!

Conclusion

Getting a computer fixed from Best Buy looks like a huge money grab.  Best Buy’s site featured even more computer services that people could purchase, but I didn’t go through it all.  They are all very similar.  They all offer solutions that literally cost people nothing if they took the time to learn.  Aside from the people that are just not very knowledgeable with computers, maybe some people are just lazy and would rather throw money at a problem to make it go away.

Source: http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/category/computers-networking/28857.aspx?path=3aa9e4f25b9e89f41bd934261dff9881en01