Better to purchase a new computer than repair?

Feathers

I'm a disabled vet and needed something to keep my mind and body occupied.  Hubby is also a disabled vet but he doesn't have any interest in computers and gaming. He's more the fishing type.  We were able to purchase two computers about a year and a half ago after a tornado hit us and our home was listed as a total loss.  Unfortunately, like many..we were underinsured and couldn't purchase a new home so we've been working on rebuilding our mobile home ourselves and made a few purchases like the computers.  The computer I had at that time was smashed and nothing was left to work on. I've always used gaming and computers to deal with my disabilities so was getting pretty antsy about not having one.  Yep, I'm an old lady playing games.  However, we had another tornado hit close by last week but not directly.  Lots of lightening and the power went off for about a day and a half.  When I was able to power up again, the computer sounded like it was taking off.  I rebooted and the noise quieted down but I could tell that something was amiss.  I found the little "hot spot" device I use to gain access to the internet had come close to blowing up.  Looks like lightening entered the outlit, went through that device, through the computer then back to the hot spot. Fortunately I have another hotbox and another computer so did went online to do some research.  I powered this one back up to see exactly what it was doing.  There's not near the speed it had before, and when I access a game site, I can't get the came to complety load.  It acts as though there's not enough memory.  I took the computer apart but nothing glared out what the problem was.  I'm thinking that it's something in the mother board or possibly the processor? I couldn't find anyone who wanted to work on an all in one touch screen that had most everything integrated on the mother board.   I looked for a reset but just didn't see it.  I used to build computers but stopped when the technology was faster than my learning capability. I did take it to a person who builds computers but he said it wouldn't be worth the cost of replacing the mother board and what ever else needed replacing.   He said something I was hearing from a couple of others that I was not going to find an easy fix to this and the cost would probably be higher to repair and replace, than to buy a new one that was technically up to date than my Aspire is.  I checked on the website and see that there is a computer that is more game oriented than this particular model and when I add the cost of a monitor, it's still not as much as I paid for this one!  My insurance company said to get some quotes for repair and they'd cover the cost, but I'm wondering if it'd be better to go ahead and opt for the next model up?  I know  I have a limited amount of time to get the info to them..and not sure what I should do.  Has anyone had their computer break down and the cost to repair is more than the purchase of a newer one? I guess it'd be better if I tell you what computer I have.  It's And ACER Aspire Z3101U4062, 1TB hard drive, 4 GB DDR3 Memory, Win 7 home premium, AMD Athlon IIX2 240e dual core proc., NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics, Multi-in-one Card Reader, DVD Super Muilti drive, Integrated Lan 10/100/1000 & wireless LAN, I didn't upgrade to Windows 8 but had the option to do it since I purchased the computer right before Win 8 came out.  I added more memory and had didled with the registry to speed it up and was looking to upgrade the harddrive and thought I'd go with a quad core, but when I checked the stats, everything else would have to be upgraded too.  Anyway, I'm using my HP lap top that does fine with gaming but I preferred the desk top.  Oh the monitor is a 21 1/2 inch MultiMedia Touch with Full HD 1080P.  I also wondered if there was a trade in program but I couldn't find anyone who would make a trade up.  Geeze, I read back and looks like i'm babbling! I'm heading back through the forums and do some more research.  

Feathers

Thanks for getting an answer so quickly.  But, alas..I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  I did a recovery to no avail.  Thank goodness for back up discs..would have taken forever to load some of the applications again.  Chose not to load everything since it had no effect adversly or positively.  I've a laptop that's more adapted for gaming with it's i7 2 TB HD, 8 gig memory and so on so forth.  I'd have loved to try a water cooled computer but right now it'd be just something i'll dream about.  By the time I can afford something like Alienware, my grandkids will have grandkids.  I got back with one of the technicians I showed the computer to earlier showed me a set up that really made me drool and I can build it myself.  Oh sure..when my ship comes in and the checks in the mail and this won't hurt much and i'll be back in a few minutes and I'm sure that I turned off the stove top before I left the house..all turns out to be reality instead of..oh nvm..you know what I mean.  After doing a recovery here made me realize I need to clean out the lap top and make it spiffy new like.  I usually do it once a year and clean it like we did in MI.  Yeah..I know..miltary intelligence...  I've got to go work on the car with my hubby right now, but will be back to read some more of the forums.  Ya'll are much smarter than I am and I see so much good advice..just gotta read more.  Thanks again

finlux

Hi Feathers!

 

Normally, I'd suggest to get a repair, but if the repair would cost as much or more than a replacement, then it would be wise to go for a new machine. A good choice is the Aspire Z3-605, but has Windows 8 & not 7 installed.

 

You could backup and try to reinstall Windows from the recovery partition or disks, but if it is a hardware fault this will have no effect.

 

Hope this helps a bit!

Feathers

Thanks for getting an answer so quickly.  But, alas..I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  I did a recovery to no avail.  Thank goodness for back up discs..would have taken forever to load some of the applications again.  Chose not to load everything since it had no effect adversly or positively.  I've a laptop that's more adapted for gaming with it's i7 2 TB HD, 8 gig memory and so on so forth.  I'd have loved to try a water cooled computer but right now it'd be just something i'll dream about.  By the time I can afford something like Alienware, my grandkids will have grandkids.  I got back with one of the technicians I showed the computer to earlier showed me a set up that really made me drool and I can build it myself.  Oh sure..when my ship comes in and the checks in the mail and this won't hurt much and i'll be back in a few minutes and I'm sure that I turned off the stove top before I left the house..all turns out to be reality instead of..oh nvm..you know what I mean.  After doing a recovery here made me realize I need to clean out the lap top and make it spiffy new like.  I usually do it once a year and clean it like we did in MI.  Yeah..I know..miltary intelligence...  I've got to go work on the car with my hubby right now, but will be back to read some more of the forums.  Ya'll are much smarter than I am and I see so much good advice..just gotta read more.  Thanks again