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Replace or repair?

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What is the critera for replacement versus repair? I work for a school system in Indiana and we have over 130 aging mac iBooks (the clamshell style) that are being used throughout five different schools. The macs are stable and solid, a little slow but acceptable, not a lot is demanded of them.
The problem is wear and tear on the power adaptors and batteries. Our suppliers have dried up. As near as I can tell Apple doesn’t make batteries or adaptors for these models anymore. Even third party vendors have moved on to other products.
We estimate that we will need 20 to 30 batteries and/or adaptors per year at a rough budget of $2000 to $3000 per year.
At what point does it make a valid argument to replace the laptops?

Topic

Depends

In reply to Replace or repair?

Always a hard question to answer. My general speach is, if it works and does what you want it to then no need to replace. If the client had given thought about replacing a system but was waiting, then I would say it maybe be best to save the money on repair and put it to a new system.

In you case, it sounds like it is time to replace. Given the fact you can not get the replacement parts you need. I would think it would be time to start replacing now and be ahead of the game. Wouldn’t seem best practice waiting until a battery or an adapter went before replacing the system. Especially at the rate you are replacing the batteries and adaptors now.

Replacement parts

In reply to Depends

are available, but getting pricy. We use to get parts from Apple under a specialized repair program but they no longer have the parts. Third party parts are available but expensive. We do not have the money to replace the laptops right now.

ROI

In reply to Replace or repair?

Looks like you’ve just done that. The ROI computations or Cost Benefit Analysis is the way to quantify it for the accountants. The other benchmark is does it do what we need it to do?

Certainly everyone would like the latest and greatest but most can do just fine with something a year or two old.

If you can’t get parts, it’s time to move on. All other justifications for not doing so is putting one’s head in the sand so to speak.

Good Luck,

jdg

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