Fixing your own laptop, and the importance of do-it-yourself to society | Hacker News Reader

Fixing your own laptop, and the importance of do-it-yourself to society

justindunham.net

39 pointsriboflavin33 comments

For those that have never experienced it, you should try Lenovo Thinkpads some day. On the underside every screw has a little pictogram so you can easily tell which ones are needed to remove the keyboard versus the hard drive for example.

You can enter a system's serial number at http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/partsLooku... and it will tell you exactly which parts went into it. For example some systems may have exactly the same model number, but some are made with LG panels and some with Samsung. This will tell you exactly.

Then they have hardware maintenance manuals at http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-manuals/detail.pa... which show you exactly how to take the laptop apart and change/repair parts.

IMHO they have done an excellent job. They even design the keyboard and system so that fluid on the keyboard drains out the bottom. (Note it isn't waterproof, just a good effort to ensure a minor spill doesn't destroy the machine.) One example video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM

And the proof is in the pudding - a friend who managed to break one of her hinges was able to lookup the exact part, order it, take the machine apart and replace the hinge and put it all back together without any difficulties or guesswork.

ThinkPads regularly obsolete before they get broken beyond reasonable repair.

Fixing laptops is all good and yes, i too think you should take broken things apart and at least try to repair them and i do it regularly..

Opening the very 17" MacBook Pro i'm writing this comment from has been a satisfying experience when i've replaced my harddisk - it's really beautiful and well-designed from the inside.

However, that whole fix-something-yourself-when-it's-broken may very well become a thing of the past - especially with MacBooks which always prided themselves of being upgradeable and even mentioning the needed steps in the manuals.

You just won't have that opportunity with the new Retina one as most of its internals are directly soldered to the logicboard :(

I sincerely hope that this trend won't continue with newer models.

"One wonderful thing about do-it-yourself, as a movement, is that it is a powerful way of creating more skilled technicians..."

The DIY "movement" actually existed since at least the beginning of the "radio movement" back in the late 1800s. Not until about the mid-1980s did it start to wane (as disposable lighters and more complex car engines and electronics packages with oddball fasteners came into fashion, and Japanese electronics displaced US-made). Check back into the early years of PC computing (before IBM introduced the PC and emphasis shifted to business) and you'll find a vital and extensive DIY "computer movement" existed. (Read Kilobyte and Byte magazines.)

This may be one benefit of the financial raping of USA ... the (partial, at-least) rebirth of the realization that it's not rocket science, and the satisfactions of DIY electronics far outweigh the conveniences of box stores.

I've repaired quite a few laptops. I was lucky to have inherited a stack of older Dell Latitudes from work when our kids were younger, so I got rather good at swapping parts to keep the best ones running. Besides swapping keyboards and screens, I've even soldered replacement power connectors on two laptop motherboards and re-worked a Nintendo DS with a broken case and upper screen cable. After most of those jobs I've said, "never again" as they've rarely made financial sense after I figure the parts and time spent. But it is a neat feeling of accomplishment.

I'm sure you do your own plumbing when your pipes have problems and fix your car when it breaks down. You probably even blow your own glass to repair a broken window, right?

Specialization is good, it helps society move forward, don't fight it.

You can save a lot of money by fixing a leaky drain pipe with $5 worth of epoxy instead of calling a plumber for $200.

Besides, being able to fix something yourself gives you a sense of satisfaction that you just can't get from paying someone to do it.

To me, the most valuable resource is time. Sure, the epoxy might be only 5 dollars, but it might take me half a day of valuable weekend time to fix the problem correctly. Or, I could have had paid the plumber and used that same time to doing something more education/interesting.

Yes, time is valuable. Changing wheels and doing basic maintanance to your car by yourself is not only cheaper but way quicker, so better do it yourself.

No way can you change your own oil faster than one of those drive through places. Just going to the store to buy oil and a filter is going to take longer than driving through.

The case of changing oil is that you need a place to utilize it (workshops have a license for that), because you won't drain it to the sewers, will you? So, changing oil yourself is quite pointless.

Not sure where you live but auto part stores in the US accept used oils for recycling free of charge.

Your time is only wasted if you get no enjoyment or satisfaction out of changing your own faucet or fixing your own leaky pipe.

I've helped a friend take a house (that I'm living in) from down to the studs to finished in about two years. We both agree we would have been better off hiring a contractor for how much time it took.

>it might take me half a day of valuable weekend time to fix the problem correctly...

I made a shoe cabinet recently - it had to be of a particular width. I spent about $200 on materials and it took me roughly 8 hours. I could say it cost me $1000 (let's say I get paid at $100/hr). I could also say it cost me nothing, as I might well have spent $200 to entertain myself otherwise. I also do most of my own plumbing - I find it fun.

One thing I noticed after doing DIY for many years: My DIY manual skills are way higher than those of my friends/family who do not do DIY. They find it rather hard to do simple tasks properly, like hammering in a nail, or driving in a screw.

If it's fun for you though, it's a hobby and not a menial chore. If I was in your shoe cabinet situation, I would take a measurment, go to the salvation army, buy the closest fitting cabinet, and call it a day. Then, I'd spend the time/money difference on hobbies I find fun instead.

It is not so much about specialization as the 'throw-away' culture. I emigrated to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago and was amazed how quickly people went to throw away or completely replace things here that broke down even if there was a simple fix. Specialization is good, however, fixing things yourself is a matter of economics and sometimes a matter of pride. I do fix my own plumbing if it is an easy enough job, I can often save some money and may end up doing a better job by using higher quality materials. I still have the first car I bought, which is a Jeep with 250k miles on it and is in good shape (not my daily driver though). I have had glass shops cut me custom glass panes before to fix a windows. Judging by the growing popularity of the DIY movement in the USA (see make magazine, techshop, popularity of home made 3D printers) I would argue that fixing things yourself is on the rise.

DIY in the US tends to mean "buy some things so I can DIY", so its really just a replacement for more consumerism. Rarely does the DIY market do something like "Don't throw out that XX. You can repair it for very little money!".

When I was young and broke, I made some very big fixes (like changing the whole transmission) to my old, unreliable car. And I changed faucets recently in my home; it takes something like 20 minutes anyway. I don't really see your point.

it takes something like 20 minutes anyway.

Haw. The second time, yes. First time I changed a faucet it was an hours-long, two trip to the hardware store, job.

Yes the first time takes a while if you don't know what your doing but mechanical aptitude is higly transferrable and the investment in time pays off everytime you take on a household project. The first time you change a toilet valve it will only take 20 minutes.

I don't estimate home improvement projects in time. I estimate in "trips to the store."

Specialization is good, it helps society move forward, don't fight it.

Specialization is good. It can be taken too far.

Put it this way: in America, in the 21st century, you can safely operate a motor vehicle without knowing even the most basic tasks of repair, like putting on the spare tire. You pay some money to AAA every year, and when you _need_ them, they come and make things right.

Until you're out, and your cell phone is out of service. There you are, stuck, with the means of salvation at hand, but no idea how to save yourself.

So, sure, pay for AAA. I do. But one should also know how to do stuff for one's self.

Just in case.

A very typical in tech circles, but completely misguided thought.

While I might not be able to plumb a whole house, rebuild an engine, or blow my own glass there is immense value in being able to diagnose and solve basic problems with things that you interact with every day. Things like replacing a sink, installing a toilet, changing oil/tires, and even replacing a window pane not only can save you time and money. Both in the do-it-yourself sense, and in knowing enough about the problem to not get taken by someone offering a solution.

Isn't this the same kind of attitude we criticize many managers, executives, and normal people for having? Making decisions about anything without being educated enough to do it?

Then again, if you're a technologist pouring your energy into a computer all day (he's a self-described Rails hacker and product manager at 10gen), arguably fixing said computer is close enough to your own specialty.

Personally I've benefited greatly from learning how to fix my own hardware. My laptop of choice is the old T4x series Thinkpad for the ease of disassembly, repair, and wealth of information out there on sites like thinkwiki.org. It saddens me whenever I hear a computer scientist say (with a note of helplessness) that they're waiting on their laptop, it's in the shop.

I won't pull out the old Dijkstra quote, but I hate screwing around with hardware/os problems. The solutions to those kind of problems is almost never interesting to me. "Oh, foo should have been bar in that config! I'll definitely remember that when a similar problem occurs 5 years from now!"

Specialization is good but so is basic aptitude.

Your car can "break down" for reasons as simple as blown fuses or low fluids. Having a working knowledge of basic auto mechanics can help you determine whether something is or is not a problem. Furthermore if the problem is simple you can fix it yourself instead of waiting for a tow, getting a taxi home and waiting for the repair shop to open in the morning.

I came here to say something like this. It's useful to have basic skills in fields that you yourself care about. For example, I've swapped hard drives and upgraded RAM for myself and family members numerous times, giving their machines much greater longevity at very little cost. I also like to cook and have begun learning how to do simple book re-binding and gluing, since I like to eat and read.

But other things, like cars and drains, matter very little to me. So those are things I pay other people to do. For a car nut, learning about Jade 403 might be a waste of time when you can just buy a new book. But for me, that's pretty valuable.

Sewing is somewhere in the middle, and I've had friends do simple sewing projects for me, and that's been really useful.

I think the real worry isn't about whether someone knows how to replace a hard drive in a MacBook—the real worry is or should be people who seem to have no real skills at all.

I just spent my Saturday afternoon servicing and repairing my car.

It's a very rewarding activity to research and learn how a complex thing like a car works, and then to apply your smarts to fixing it simply by reading books and the internet.

There is also something very rewarding to completing a job well, and being able to drive knowing you've fixed something yourself.

Other weekends I spend time fixing things around the house, or maybe tending to the garden.

Being an all-rounder is good for the soul and good for relating to other people.

Specialisation is for insects.

I prefer an in-between approach. Specialization in one subject, with a shallow but wide spread of knowledge for everything else.

In the case of cars, for example, I can generally diagnose problems and perform standard repairs, but I leave transmission service, machining, etc to the professionals.

Right - when you get to needing specialised equipment - then you call in the professionals. But even in these cases it helps to be researched and knowledgeable and ask the right questions to prevent them making mistakes and/or overcharging.

I had no idea that basic home plumbing was something people see as so difficult that it makes for suitable sarcasm.

Also, plate glass is rarely blown, but rather floated.

Agreed with many of the comments below - my point wasn't that specialization in and of itself is bad. It is very economically efficient, certainly. But not specializing, occasionally, lets us achieve a lot of other worthwhile goals, and can be extremely satisfying to boot.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com