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Thanks for the warning, Roger
We asked Toshiba to provide the picture so we wouldn't have to mess with the innards of one of our laptops. And to be frank, their machine is a little more exciting to look at than the clunky old laptops we use.
You are correct to warn other members about the warranty issue, but it puts me in mind of the overpriced aftercare arrangements you get with many car dealers. As Stewart Twynham has written in the past, forbidding laptop owners from opening up their machines perpetuates the hardware upgrade rip-off.
If you compare the price of a PC or Mac with a bigger disk drconfiguration, it will usually be significantly more expensive than buying extra RAM or a bigger disk and fitting them yourself. This is accepted practice with desktop machines, and while laptops are smaller and more fiddly, they have similar snap-fit connections that someone with a tiny bit of experience should be able to cope with. There's plenty of advice how to do it out on the Web - and in many organisations there may be someone who has experience carrying out such tasks.
In our Top 10 laptop guide, we suggested bargain-hunters look for machines that have been superseded by bigger/faster/better models with the intention of upgrading them later to extend their life. Perhaps we could agree on a compromise approach, by suggesting users leave the inside of the laptop alone for the first year or two (depending on the warranty period). By the time the storage capacity is coming under strain, or you're getting frustrated by the slow performance, it'll probably be out of warranty anyway and you can consider undertaking a DIY upgrade.
John Stokdyk
Technology editor
AccountingWEB.co.uk
Buying a laptop or any other expensive goods.
Don't forget that under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, goods have a statutory six-year guarantee period - the best in the European Union. So no need to buy expensive product fault guarantee insurance from the trade sellers who often offer a mere one-year or two-year product fault contractual guarantee period. If a fault arises, you'll need to show that it was an inherent one that occurred in the manufacturing process. Faults which develop through mis-treatment, such as dropping a laptop, are not covered by the six-year statutory gurantee period (but such damage may be covered by your household insurance policy).
BEWARE - Don't Void Your Warranty
It's all very well describing the anatomy of a laptop but whatever else you do with it, if it's under warranty, do not open it yourself !!!
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME