[clug-talk] laptop takes the plunge

[Mark Carlson]

On 5/15/09, Ralph Pichie <thevillagegeek at gmail.com> wrote:
> Last weekend, while attempting to take photos for a panorama that I
>  would later stitch together, my backpack was involved in an unplanned
>  "condensed-duration elevation reduction event", commonly known as a
>  sudden drop. Inside, mimicking Humpty Dumpty, was the Acer Aspire
>  laptop that I had purchased last summer to replace my earlier laptop,
>  which had developed a cracked lid and other issues due to a design
>  flaw.
>
>  Grabbing for it as it fell, I grasped an item that was loose, and the
>  bag continued falling. I didn't follow it directly, but I did run
>  around to where it landed. When powered it on, I was very happy to
>  hear the sounds of a normal boot process, but less thrilled by the
>  display that remained dark. With my external monitor hundreds of
>  kilometers behind in western Saskatchewan and me headed for a flight
>  to Ottawa in two days, for work, I was really in a bind, as all my
>  work was on that laptop, and my backups were waiting for me on an
>  external hard drive that I had shipped ahead of me to a town in
>  Ontario.
>
>  The laptop did work when I connected it to an appropriate monitor that
>  night at the place where I was staying, confirming that all was not
>  lost. Perhaps I hadn't been so silly when I spent over $100 on a heavy
>  duty Targus backpack a year earlier. If my laptop had fallen like that
>  without all the padding around it, I serious doubt whether anything
>  would have survived, short of landing on something improbably soft, or
>  a coincidentally-placed force field of some kind.
>
>  The next day, in Regina, i paid a bit more than I probably could have
>  for an Aspire One, small version, loaded with X:p. I was looking at
>  getting one anyway, but I'd have rather decided a less destructive
>  way. It works ok, but definitely going to be upgrading it to a dual
>  boot with Ubuntu Netbook Remix or something like that.
>
>  Should I even  bother looking at a replacement/repair on the main
>  laptop, or just use it as a desktop system? The laptop cost around
>  $550 with tax at Staples last year, so it likely isn't worth it, but
>  if I can, I'd like it to function as intended.

As long as you've gotten your data off of it, you could open it up and
take a peek.  A cable may have become partially detached if you're
lucky.  Alternately, the inverter for the LCD may have been damaged.
These are replaceable, but it might not be worth it to you.

If you're going to take it apart, I'd recommend following the
manufacturer's instructions.  There's usually a guide somewhere that
will tell you how to take it apart without wrecking anything.  Be
prepared to lose some screws though (or have too many screws left over
when you're done... oops!)

-Mark C.