Repair

I have a first-gen Z series. My son dropped it on the floor resulting in a chip out of the bottom of the chassis. The ethernet port is pushed in, the screen hinge is a little out and it can power off if at the wrong angle, also the top left of the keyboard has come off. There's no damage to screen or hardware.

Should I just contact Sony for a repair, or is there another option?

 

Get rid of the child.

 

1+ LOL to jakem1.

But on a more helpful note, unless you have the Accidental Coverage Warranty (which is an option in the States a few other select countries), the repair will be expensive. For obvious reasons, the repair work here will not be covered under the usual one year warranty; this damage is done via 'user negligence' as far as Sony is concerned.

- The lower chassis board, the part itself would be around US$200 (yeah, it's expensive as all Z's under-bodies are made of carbon-fibre bits regardless of model and region).
- The ethernet port is not part of the main motherboard, but that said you stated it's been pushed in; the port connection sits on top of the motherboard and the CPU cooler fan. Worst case scenario (motherboard damage AND ethernet port damage), for the motherboard about US$700 and a new ethernet connection around US$100
- A hinge is around US$40 (provided the damage is only the plastic bit, if the metal frame of the hinge itself is damaged, around US$150 for one hinge).

The above prices are what I'd expect. But Sony may (this is a very possible MAY) charge more; they used to sell the Z's blu-ray drive for US$1k when you could get the same thing for about US$300 on eBay...

From what you have said, the damage is primarily the lower carbon fibre chassis, particularly on the left. It doesn't sound like your keyboard is bad (as there is a little 'clip' on the top left to keep the keyboard firm and in place). But there DOES sound like some sort of damage to the hardware is present, if the machine does turn itself off at angles. And unfortunately, provided the damage is focused on the top left, that does point to the motherboard. The only key parts there are the ethernet port, DC jack, and the motherboard itself.

If I were in your position and like my Z alot, contact Sony and pay for them to do an INSPECTION to get a quote as to what's wrong and approx. how much it will cost to fix. Not trying to be pessimisitic here but the projected repair quote won't be pretty (my gut feeling). But it's worth a try.

 

hmm, looks like this thing might be electrical waste, more-or-less. It's $800 Micro Center - Sony VAIO VGN-Z820G/B Laptop Computer - Black VGNZ820G/B now, which looks like it might not be less than the repair cost. (although a slight complicating factor is that i'm uk-based, even though I bought the laptop in the US).

The powering off problem hasn't reoccurred,the laptop is fine in use, but obviously it's going to break down further over time.

Maybe I should ebay it.