That £200 Repair Might Cost You £2,000

The laptop screen repair quote came in at £200. Seems reasonable. But here's what that quote isn't telling you.

A staff member comes to you with bad news. Their laptop screen is cracked. The repair quote says £200.

'That's cheaper than a new laptop,' you think. Decision made. Repair it.

Three months later, the same laptop dies completely. You've now spent £200 on repair plus £800 on replacement. The employee lost a week of productivity across both incidents.

You've paid over £2,000 in real costs for a device you should have replaced from the start.

The Replace vs Repair Trap

The repair vs replace decision seems simple. Repair is cheaper than replace, so repair wins. Right?

Wrong. The upfront cost is only one factor. The *real* calculation includes:

• Remaining useful life - Is this device going to cause more problems?
• Productivity cost - How much work is lost during repairs?
• Opportunity cost - What could your employee do with a faster machine?
• Risk cost - What if it fails again, at the worst possible time?

When to Repair: The Good Candidates

Some repairs genuinely make sense:

The young device with a simple problem A 1-year-old laptop with a cracked screen? Repair it. There's plenty of life left, screens are replaceable parts, and the machine is otherwise healthy.

The covered device Under warranty? Accidental damage protection? Use it. That's what you're paying for.

The battery replacement Battery starting to fade? That's a consumable part, like tyres on a car. Budget £80-120 for a professional replacement and get another 2-3 years of use.

When to Replace: The Hidden Risks

The ancient device Anything over 4-5 years old is living on borrowed time. Components degrade. Batteries swell. Thermal paste dries out. Even if this repair works, the next failure is coming.

The unsupported device If it can't run Windows 11, it's already end-of-life. Microsoft stopped Windows 10 security updates in October 2025. Running unsupported software means running with unpatched vulnerabilities.

The device with a history This is its third trip to the repair shop? The laptop is telling you something. Repeated failures indicate underlying problems that no single repair will fix.

The critical device If this is someone's primary work tool and they can't function without it, the risk of repair failure is too high. A week without a laptop costs more than a new laptop.

The Maths Nobody Does

Let's calculate the real cost of that £200 screen repair:

Repair path:

• Screen repair: £200
• 2 days without laptop during repair: 2 days × 8 hours × £25/hour = £400 in lost productivity
• Risk of further failure (30% chance within 6 months): 0.3 × £800 replacement = £240 expected cost
• Total expected cost: £840

Replace path:

• New laptop: £800
• Setup and data migration: 4 hours = £100 (or £0 with Zero Touch Deployment)
• Downtime: 1 day = £200
• Risk of failure (minimal): £0
• Total expected cost: £1,000

The repair looks cheaper by £160. But the repair path has risk. If that 30% chance happens, you've spent £200 repair + £800 replacement + double the downtime.

Expected cost analysis says: the difference is marginal, but the *variance* on the repair path is higher. For a critical device, certainty is worth paying for.

The Questions That Decide

When facing repair vs replace, ask:

1. How old is it? Over 4 years = lean toward replace
2. Is it under warranty? Yes = repair makes sense
3. Has it been repaired before? Yes = lean toward replace
4. Can it run Windows 11? No = definitely replace
5. Is this device critical? Yes = lean toward replace for certainty
6. Is the repair cost over 40% of replacement cost? Yes = consider replacing

The Windows 11 Factor

This deserves special attention.

Windows 10 reached end of life in October 2025. Any device that can't run Windows 11 is now running unsupported software. Even if the hardware works perfectly, the *software* is a security risk.

Paying to repair a device that can't be secured is throwing money away.

The Total Cost of Ownership View

Good IT planning doesn't look at individual repair decisions. It looks at fleet cost over time.

A business with 10 laptops should expect:

• 3-4 year refresh cycle
• 2-3 devices replaced per year
• Budgeted, predictable cost

Reactive repair-vs-replace decisions every time something breaks leads to:

• Unpredictable costs
• Ageing fleet (averaging 5+ years old)
• More frequent failures
• Higher total spend over time

The Quick Assessment

We built a quick tool that helps you think through repair vs replace decisions. It asks the questions above and gives you a recommendation.

Should I Repair or Replace?

It takes 2 minutes. Better than agonising over quotes.

What We Recommend

For our managed clients, we take a proactive approach:

• Track device age and health across the fleet
• Recommend replacements *before* failures occur
• Budget hardware refreshes so there are no surprises
• Handle procurement at competitive prices (we don't mark up hardware)
• Deploy new devices with Zero Touch - user opens the box, signs in, ready to work

The result: fewer emergency decisions, lower total cost, happier users.

Need advice on a specific device? Contact us for a free assessment.