Need a new computer? Try fixing it instead!

This is a post by my husband, Will. Enjoy.

For weeks, maybe months, Angela has periodically reported, “I had to restart my computer five times today.” “Hmm,” I thought, “Apparently she can’t figure out how to use the touch pad?” so I ignored.

Last Tuesday night I needed to look up video clips of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to prove to my sons that Spock could put you to sleep in an instant, and Angela’s computer was most convenient.

The web browser took a surprisingly long time to open – like a 1994 long time to open. I quickly typed “V-u-l-c-a-n- -n-e-r-v-e- -p-i-n-c-h” and waited, and waited… WHAT?! I again typed “V-u-l-…” and the whole phrase finally coughed itself onto the screen, plus the extra letters. So I carefully deleted three letters waiting a couple seconds between each press of the key.

“What’s wrong with your computer, Angela?” I screamed. “Nothing. I just restarted it.”

This is a pretty nice computer with several important features: 17″ screen, Intel i5 processor, 6 MB Ram, and most importantly Windows 7 — Windows 8 is completely worthless. We are about living frugally in the Northwest, you know, and the cheapest new computer I could find with these specs was $617.22. We decided to see if we could get Angela’s Dell repaired, fully planning for it to fail and to have to replace the computer afterwards.

Mark from Brainwave PC and MAC in Beaverton, Oregon seemed confident that he would be able to fix the slowness. He kept the computer for two nights and discovered that the hard drive was actually broken. Mark replaced it with a faster one, transferred all the data to the new drive, installed all the applications that the it had before, set up most of the preferences to match how it was before, and did not install all of the junk applications that typically come with new computers!

Total cost for repair: $260
Result: Better than new!
Savings: More than $250!

If you have a computer whose performance is lagging, give Mark a call. Maybe he can fix it. Mention that you heard about him from Frugal Living NW and get an exclusive 15% discount on labor. Mark also has new and refurbished computers you can purchase in the store (many with Windows 7). Like Mark’s Facebook page for updates and other deals.

Will wrote this review in exchange for the labor cost on my computer. The opinions expressed are honest and are not influenced by the awesome free labor we got out of the deal.

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