Alienware m14 to repair or not to repair?

About a week ago i cleaned out my heatsink from my alienware. Since then, I can't get it to start. I contacted one of my local computer services and he sent me this message:

"I knew this was the case. In fact every alienware owner who has contacted me seem to want to take apart and fix things themselves . Problem is its a very very expensive laptop. Why you would you do this is beyond me??

Its impossible that you did everything ..... perfectly..... it would still work if that was the case. Honestly it could be something small or major. Now the costs will start mounting up. I keep telling people leave things to the experts sure its going to cost you... but if you can afford to buy one then the repair costs should be something you have to budget for.... like owners of bmws and mercedes benz . Because this is a very high end laptop and they always cost $$$$$ to fix. It goes with the territory.

These laptops are plagued with problems like the msi equivalent.
Whoever you choose to fix it will need to obviously look at it. I would charge $200 just to diagnose it as it would need to be taken apart again.

Did you wear an anti static wrist strap attached to a good earth source and have rubber shoes on.

Sorry to tell u all of this but I see it all too often .
Regards"

So basically he said the worst case scenario would be replacing all the parts which would cost me around $1500~$2000. Now this is a rather old laptop and I had it for around 4 years already. Now i'm wondering whther or not I should still send it in for repairs. Advice?

 

For 1.500-2.000$ you have to buy a brand new one!

 

not even kidding, you could buy a new alienware 13 for 1500-2k

 

It probably just needs a replacement mainboard which is about 200-300$ not 1000-1500$. They just don't want to repair it so they come up with a ridiculus price to fix it.

 

rofl. you could easily get a top of the line model refurbished over at ebay

 

For that repair cost, you can get a laptop with a GTX 980M. Just sell it on eBay as "parts or not working" for like $300-$500 and move on.

 

There may be something to do with it. It might be just a cable that is not properly seated. Did you try to take it apart again? I'm sure many people here on NBR would perform the fix without such an outstanding cost. The motherboard is not that expensive online and has the video card in it.

 

$200 is a total rip off just to tell you what was wrong with it. Over here in the UK my company would charge you the equivalent of about $35 to diagnose and quote the fault and no more than $75 to repair if it's just a loose cable or something which doesnt require parts.

 

Here in my country most companies charge $15 for diagnosis and about $50 for service plus the parts price. For me, $200 is just insane.

 

The OP should probably shop around for a business that actually acts and charges like they want to "WORK FOR YOU".
Which is essentially the concept of renting of business services (or charging for those services) to those who have not the skills to perform the "operation" that is needed at that time. Be that fixing a machine or mending a pipe as not everyone can be a plumber when they need to be!!