Are you debating whether you should fix your broken laptop screen or just replace the whole system?
We help folks make that decision every day, and can help you determine if repairing or replacing is the best long-term, and most economical option.
Every week we get around a dozen messages from folks who dropped, stepped on, bumped-off-the-couch, or otherwise damaged the screen on their laptops. They want to know if the screen can be replaced, how much it will cost, how long it will take, and ultimately, if it’s worth the investment to fix it instead of running out and picking up a new one.
And ultimately, it depends. With both very recent and very old devices, it can prove challenging to source quality replacement parts. However, for most consumer laptops that were around the $300-$700 price point new, and are less than 10 years old, the cost to replace the screen is generally pretty affordable; prices can start in the $100-$300 range for a new part depending on the resolution, touchscreen capability, and market availability. Prices vary from there depending on if you opt for a used-but-good replacement, versus a brand new one. In some instances with very old systems, used parts are the only ones available due to the product no longer being manufactured, and in those instances, we recommend saving the money that would be put towards a screen and using it instead towards a new computer with a nice long warranty.
If the screen is the only part damaged, but the cost of replacement is prohibitively expensive, or you don’t actually need to be able to carry your computer with you, consider leaving the screen as-is and using the system with an old tv or external monitor by connecting it via HDMI or DisplayPort.
Depending on the age of the system, and how it was damaged, a new screen could be the only thing needed to solve your problem. In many situations, an event that caused the screen to break — like a drop — could damage other internal components.
In some situations, like this photo, the screen isn’t the problem at all.
We see a fair number of computers come in for a replacement screen, when in actuality there’s an issue with say, a graphics driver that is causing a software problem rather than a physical hardware problem, for example.
In some instances, the graphics card itself is to blame, and while that’s generally a pretty easy fix in desktop computers, in a lot of laptops that have dedicated graphics, the chip is soldered to the main motherboard of the computer and isn’t really feasible to repair in an economical way.
That’s why we always run a full suite of diagnostics at the start of every service so that before you spend money on a potentially expensive part, you know for sure that there aren’t any other big surprises waiting for you on the other side.
TLDR; if you have a laptop that you suspect needs a replacement screen, we recommend letting a professional technician run a full suite of diagnostics before investing any money in parts.
Not only can this save you time and money, but it can prevent larger issues from becoming symptomatic in the future.
Questions about replacing your screen?
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