Sony Vaio laptop failure

[Canis Vulpes]

On Sunday evening my 18 month old Sony Vaio laptop failed in immediate fashion. The machine had been left and gone into resume, upon wakeup the mouse would only do vertical movements although left and right motion was attempted on the mouse pad. After a second of mouse trouble I literally got the blue screen of death (BLOD) for one second then the screen went black so I rebooted after removing the battery and power supply. Nothing I mean nothing, hard disk light flashes and then more nothing. The thing is completely dead.

Now, I am considering repair but Sony's maximum repair charge is £400 but I can purchase a new one for £550 of the same type. I have £150 in spares when considering battery and PSU.

So, whats the consensus of opinion, repair or replacement?

[Subzero]

Hi Stephen,
Sorry to hear of the failure of your "abacus", not a pleasant thing to happen.
You use the word "maximum" repair price, so what is the repair price for your fault; have you had a repair "estimate"??
If it's actually £400, then you may consider what it's S/H (sorry, preowned) value is, when it has been repaired and you wish to sell it.
You say it is 18 months old, which means it is probably 3 years old in technology terms, so if it was mine I would do one of the following:
1. See a mate who knows "all about nothing" and get him to check it out, , can sort it for £75 no probs.
2. Buy new , bigger and better, faster and more beads on the abacus.

I would NOT go with a £400 repair on a replacement £550 model, I would buy new.
regards Subzero