Laptop repair business?

[turkeytrustrus]

Hi

I am looking into opening a laptop repair business, as i like fixing faults and diagnosing. I have good knowledge of computers, but i am wondering if it will be worthwhile to set this new business up. Is there demand for this type of business? Would it be profitable? I know that laptops are now quite cheap, so maybe if one breaks it is cheaper just to buy a new one. What does everyone think?

[IBM]

Where abouts are you based? Here in London there are PC/laptop repair places all over the place, but somewhere less heavily populated with the right advertising could always do well for itself...

[turkeytrustrus]

I'm not in London, i'm in the north near manchester. I would be just doing laptop repairs, as desktops can be done by most.

[ikonia]

I doubt you will get enough business to live off.

are you certified by any companies ?
Do you have any experience ?

such a specialist field will doubtfully be worthwhile

As a side issue how old are you ?

[Mike Fishcake]

In addition to what everyone else has said...

I work in a computer repair section at a university. Most of our work now comes from laptops rather than desktops, but TBH that's probably due to the nature of the place - ie, students moving back and forth from home don't want to be lugging around a big base unit and TFT screen all the time when they can just sling a small bag over their shoulder.

If you're going to be repairing laptops, it will help to be handy with a soldering iron. We get a lot of people come in with broken DC sockets which need to be soldered back on. Most of the time they can just be re-soldered, but occasionally they have to be replaced. We get our replacement sockets from http://www.laptopsockets.co.uk/ .

Also, a lot of faults are caused by people spilling stuff on their laptops - quite often it's just the keyboard that's damaged, but sometimes it can seep through to the motherboard.

Hard drives are a fairly common failure, 9 times out of 10 they're dead easy to replace, but you get the occasional one that's a real, real pain to get to.

Another thing to bear in mind (not just for laptops) is that a lot of problems are just software related, and System Restore can be a great thing. Make sure you get a copy of the ultimate boot CD for Windows for those PCs that won't boot - http://www.ubcd4win.com/ - as well as being able to see all the files on the HDD, there's a great tool on there which can restore the registry to a previous date.

As for the financial viability of doing this, it's difficult for me to say. As we're a university department, we (probably) don't charge as much as the high street for the repairs, so we don't make a profit but we do get subsidised by the uni. Personally, I certainly wouldn't rely on this as a full-time source of income.

A few places we get service manuals/disassembly guides from:

www.eserviceinfo.com - try here first, they have manuals for everything from laptops, printers, fridge freezers, microwaves
http://www.nodevice.com/manual/
http://www.irisvista.com/ - toshiba notebook guides
http://www.laptoprepairguy.com/lapto...ervice-manual/
http://repair4laptop.org/notebook.html
http://www.cmsproducts.com/notebook_drive_removal.htm
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/ - guide to disassembling apple notebooks (and the mini)

I've also got a large collection of service manuals for all the major notebook manufacturers already downloaded, but it's about 1.5GB in total IIRC. PM me for more info.

As for places to get spares, there's www.laptopspares.com which can get some quite obscure stuff if needed, but their communication isn't always that great.

We also use http://www.servicesource.co.uk/ for a lot of parts. AFAIK they're an official supplier of Dell spare parts, but they also supply parts for a load of other manufacturers too.

I'm sure I'll think of more to add to this later

[turkeytrustrus]

ikonia :- Yes, i do have some certifications, not as well known as mcse but i do have some. I also have a few years experience with fixing pcs and maintenance. I'm 27.

Mike fishcake :- That is a lot of info. I'm really grateful, thanks. I have seen quite few companies that do just laptop repair, so how can they stay in business?

Also, would it be better to focus on laptop spares, like batteries? they are repeat products and are always needed. can you refurbish laptop batteries?

[Howard]

Hard drives are a fairly common failure, 9 times out of 10 they're dead easy to replace, but you get the occasional one that's a real, real pain to get to.

Yeah, most big laptops have panels underneath that lead straight to the HDD, or you'll hvae to remove the keyboard. Tiny laptops (i.e most <12" dells and Sonys) have them located under the whole front panel, so you have to dismantle the whole damn casing It's great fun

[Funkstar]

yeah laptops are much more fun* than desktops


* fun = frustrating amounts of time spent looking for where that last screw of clip is so you can get the damned case open!

[Mike Fishcake]

Mike fishcake :- That is a lot of info. I'm really grateful, thanks. I have seen quite few companies that do just laptop repair, so how can they stay in business?

You're welcome.

Not sure how they stay in business TBH - maybe they charge stupid amounts of money

Another tip for disassembling notebooks though, clear loads of space on the desk. Use an anti-static mat if you're going to be doing things properly. Get a sheet of paper, and place the screw on the paper, write where it came from and stick it down with tape (if you've got identical screws, group them and label them all together). It might seem like a long winded way of doing things, but the time you spend doing that at the start, you save when putting it back together. Not had any leftover screws now for a couple of years!

*smug*

[Howard]

If you don't hvae at least one screw left over, you're not doing it properly

[ikonia]

can you refurbish laptop batteries?

the fact that your asking things like this suggests your no-where near ready to be opening a laptop repair business. This is stuff you should know as a basic, and if possible have a supplier set up to either purchase replacments or handle your refurbs.

What are your certifications if they are not as well know as the MCSE - they are probably not as well respected, and to be honest what has an MCSE got to do with fixing laptops ?

Do you have and hardware cerfification, Dell, IBM, HP hardware certified ?

Are you prepared for the massive insurance you'll need to protect against a.) the shop having high ammount of expensive kit in b.) customer protection (if you damaged or lossed data on my laptop that I brought into you - I'd be looking at getting cash off you )

Sorry to sound harsh, but if you are going to do this as a business you need to

a.) have cash
b.) have premises
c.) know what your doing
d.) present yourself like you know what your doing
e.) be insured in a big way
f.) be prepared to live on next to no cash


the other thing to consider is that most laptops have at least a 1 year RTB warrenty, which you will void by touching, and most people will send back to the factory. More often than not laptops will be returned to the maker they are bought from for repair unless its quite old/out of date, in which case repair normally cots more than a new laptop.

I assume a lot of laptop repair shops will get business by holding small business repair contracts, in which case you won't get unless you have hardware certification which will not void the warrenty.

[turkeytrustrus]

ikonia : it is quite possible i am not ready, that is why i am looking into it. Obviously i would have to have a lot of things that you have listed, and experience. I was just tyrying to get an idea of the market and if it would be possible.

So, is it possible to refurbish batteries?

[glass]

I know this thread is somewhat old but I started a laptop repair business earlier this year. I know the credit crunch is now in full swing so thought I'd post some advice to anyone that knows how to fix computers/laptops.

I'm probably repairing around 3 laptops a day as well as some desktop systems. Seems like everyone has laptops now though! Apart from the gamers

Anyway if you’re thinking about making some extra cash this is probably the best bet if you know what you’re doing. I started repairing friends / families systems many years ago - got a full time job. However I was not earning enough ££ so started promoting my services in a local community magazine.

I started out part-time fitting it in round my full time work. I'f only I had done this when I was still at Uni! The cash in hand jobs helped a lot and I grew. Now I was so busy that I had to make a decision. Quit my full time job. This was not easy! My boss tried to talk me out of it. Luckily for me the company I worked with was going under a restructure and when I did finally say "I quit" they hired me back on a contract basis to fix their servers/desktops.

I now have the best of both worlds, working for myself and making more money.

My main bit of advice to anyone thinking about this to make some extra ££ is do it part-time for a couple of years. Evenings/weekends. The work will build up if you are good at what you do. And if you are good at what you do you can charge accordingly. The main problem I have is part-timers charging like a £5/hour where as I charge £65/hour.

If you charge the right amount you will attract the right type of customer. Charge too low and you'll drag in the penny pinchers always trying to get a deal from you.

Hope this helps someone.