Notebook PC Manufacturer Who Will Sell Parts?

gp310ad asks: "Fujitsu refused to sell me a basic part for my P2120 notebook PC. The part is the small daughter board which bridges the external charger to the internal circuitry. It is approximately two square cm with two connectors mounted. There are no passive or active electronic components on the board. I was told that I would have to complete Fujitsu technical training before I would be allowed to purchase this or any other part that requires removing more than two screws. According to Fujitsu, the hard drive (three screws) is 'not a user replaceable part'. Which brings me to my question — I am in the market for a new notebook PC and would like to know which manufacturers are 'end user friendly' when it comes to out of warranty repair parts. The model and features will be determined by what is available within my budget. However, I do not want to be stuck with an out of warranty machine from a manufacturer who will not sell parts."

Comments

Dell

[linkedlinked]

It's pretty hard to believe, but Dell may be just what you're looking for. I own an E1505, and they're actually sending me the Bluetooth module that goes inside the laptop, presumably in some socket on the motherboard, to add myself (and I purchased from Dell Home). At work, they just sent me three new motherboards and heat sinks, plus a bottle of thermal paste, to fix some OHCI issues I was having. They're brilliant, very trusting in the end-user installation department.

Re:Dell

[fimbulvetr]

I did this exact same thing with my D800 bluetooth module. I didn't purchase it new because I had no need for it, and it was quite expensive. Recently, I picked it up for $30 and did it myself. They also sell things like video card upgrades and cdrom upgrades (to dvd-r, etc).

Despite all the bad things people say about dell, my next laptop will most certainly be dell. The D/dock I purchased for the D800 will even work for a new D820 or D620. That's $150 I don't need to spend.

Re:Dell

[Gentlewhisper]

The 24-inch I-mac uses one.

From the innovative company that uses laptop parts in their desktops and non upgradeable parts in their laptops.

Re:Dell

[epp_b]

Yea we've actually got alotta dudes who're east indian and they ******* love it when we get guys who call up and think their talking to a guy in india.

Hey, Canada has it's own version of Indian tech support, too! We call them "French".

*duck*



(get you're mouse off of that "troll" option, it was a joke!)

IBM/Lenovo thinkpads...

[Fallen Kell]

They sell their parts with or without the training. I picked up a few parts myself for a T40 Thinkpad which had a bad network board (wired and wifi), and a broken PCMCIA slot cover. They have full video's and instructions on how to disasemble thier Thinkpad series, from removing the keyboard, to replacing the steel cage that houses the removable media bay.

IBM/Lenovo

[darkwhite]

IBM.

The Thinkpad division apparently takes serviceability VERY seriously. They sell every single sub-assembly down to individual types of screws. I personally have ordered several tiny parts to replace in my Thinkpads.

I'm not sure what the contact points are for IBM Parts now that it's Lenovo. Previously you could call a number and order nearly anything that had an FRU number.

Re:IBM/Lenovo

[ThisNukes4u]

I have an IBM thinkpad made between the switch from IBM->Lenovo and have had no problem ordering parts straight through Lenovo using FRUs using the web interface. I would assume that they still sell the parts from old IBM thinkpads as well as the new ones.

Re:IBM/Lenovo

[mrbcs]

I'll second or third this. IBM are awesome. A couple years ago I was looking for this dumb little card to snap on to a server board. I have a PC 704 server. Thing is monstrous. Fun to learn on but a power pig. I wanted to put in the other 2 cpu's. I needed this little card to make them work. Went to IBM site, found the manuals, found the part number, thought "What the hell?" and called their parts dept. Not only did they have the thing in stock (this computer was made before 1999) they would gladly ship it to me asap. The part cost $5 and they were laughing as they told me shipping was about $14.

I simply love their laptops. I've had about 8 or 9 (kept selling my personal machine and would have to replace it with something faster)of them and have been very happy with all of them. Easy to work on and lots of documentation on their website.

Apple

[Foofoobar]

Believe it or not, alot of the parts in a mac laptop can be bought from dealers and people who fix them. Most want to install them but alot of repair sites will sell the parts to you direct.

IBM/Lenovo

[binaryspiral]

I second the opinion that IBM/Lenovo treats in warranty and out of warranty users very well. Sure they'll sell you every part for your expired laptop, but in warranty treatment is equally good for those first few years of new laptop goodness.

Toshiba

[toddbu]

Toshiba is pretty good about selling parts too. But there are limitations. Toshiba CPU fans and hard drives don't last very long (about a year for each, I switch to Seagate for hard drives). What really sucks about Toshiba is when you have to replace something like a hinge for the display. They have so many combinations that finding the replacement can be difficult if not impossible.

IBM / Lenovo

[Anonymous Coward]

I was happy to see IBM / Lenovo getting the support they deserve in this thread. I'm typing this on my IBM T42 which is currently running on several user-replaced parts (by me). Breakage was due to droppage twice, (this is my travel laptop and takes a beating daily) but it did survive a 17" monitor falling on it from ~8" above. I'm an engineer but I support all the laptops in our (small) company and all I order nowadays for new employees is Lenovo laptops. (note: I don't have any more issues with Lenovo than the older IBM thinkpads)

IBM / Lenovo provides detailed disassembly guides which are easy to find on the web. They detail (with pictures/illustrations) how to strip any of their laptops down to bare plastic.

I also like how they label the screws on the bottom so you immediately know which to remove first. For instance, 3 screws have a little pic of a keyboard next to them. Remove these and the keyboard comes out. Also each screw hole in the bottom has a '1' '2' or '3' next to it. A sticker on the bottom has full-size images of each screw with a '1' '2' or '3', so you can immediately find what length screw belongs in each hole. If you have ever had a pile of screws you need to put back in your laptop this feature should be immediately attractive.

This is my 3rd Thinkpad and I have torn all 3 apart multiple times. I have also torn apart Toshiba, Dell, HP and find the Thinkpads to have been the cleanest looking inside and easiest to work on. Also, if you get a chance, pull the HD out of a Thinkpad and notice how thin, light, and well-designed the carrier sleeve is that holds the drive and protects (insulates) the exposed PC board which is attached to the bottom of the actual drive. Clean and precise! The whole inside of Thinkpads are clean like that.

No doubt I like working on Thinkpads the best, and have probably fixed (torn apart with the hope of figuring out what is wrong) > 50 laptops over the last 10 years.

Btw I don't work for IBM/Lenovo nor even in the computer/electronics industry.

Re:IBM / Lenovo

[almost entirely lega]

One can only hope that Lenovo will keep up the unbelievably excellent support IBM had - and on that there is some cause for concern. Thinkpad warranties that used to be three years are now only one, upgradeable to three if you pay an additional fee. And the best part of IBM's service, EasyServ, the program under which you could Fedex your Thinkpad to IBM, and have them repair it and return it in the next morning's Fedex, is an additional fee atop the additional fee. My favorite old IBM Thinkpad story: I was in Oklahoma City, and dropped my 701C - the old Butterfly, from a height of about eight feet, onto concrete. Parts were hanging out of the cracked case...but the machine kept working, allowing me to backup as I called IBM. I explained what had happened to the customer service rep, who looked up the serial number, and advised me, "Oh...that machine's still under warranty. Fedex it to us...and we'll get it back to you." What, I asked, would it cost? "Nothing," he said, "it's under warranty, and the case is cracked." In a moment of looking the gift horse in the mouth, I reminded him that it was cracked because I'd dropped it. He said, "So? It's under warranty and the case is cracked. Put it in a box and Fedex it to us, and you'll have it back tomorrow morning." They'd put their repair facility next door to Fedex in Memphis, got the broken machines off planes and fixed them, putting them back on outbound Fedex flights whenever possible. While they had it, they also upgraded the BIOS. How great did I think it was? It's more than ten years later, and I still tell the story. And I've purchased seven additional Thinkpads since, four of which are still functional - because when a part goes down, not only do they (as others have mentioned) sell parts, they make sure you can do the repair yourself. On their website, they have decent written instructions, paired with videos of more complex repairs. And to this day, their parts service is fast and not overpriced.