Overpriced laptop parts

clade · 9 Feb 2011 at 12:50

about £100 for a ribbon cable to connect a trackpad to the mainboard! all caused by Sony who will not sell these types of parts so the second hand market price gets bumped up no end!

To top it off they will not even give a quote to fix it, you have to send the laptop off for them to look at it even when you know what the cable is. So that will cost £50ish to find out it could cost £200 for them to change the cable!

Im soo miffed at the moment but its criminal that they dont sell the parts.

adren · 9 Feb 2011 at 12:55

clade said:
about £100 for a ribbon cable to connect a trackpad to the mainboard! all caused by Sony who will not sell these types of parts so the second hand market price gets bumped up no end!

To top it off they will not even give a quote to fix it, you have to send the laptop off for them to look at it even when you know what the cable is. So that will cost £50ish to find out it could cost £200 for them to change the cable!

Im soo miffed at the moment but its criminal that they dont sell the parts.

Is it not a standard synaptics type touch pad?

clade · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:07

its a sony branded cable so I doubt it.its a FPC-130 for a sony vaio z series.

Tonester007 · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:14

I take it the laptop is out of warranty, so you could save a bit of money by fitting it yourself.

Although they aren't as easy to take apart as a desktop, there should be some online guides for doing this.

Michaeljcox24 · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:19

I never touch hardware faults on laptops. Minefield of possible **** ups and expensive parts.

marcus_667 · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:21

Ive got a vaio at the moment that needs a new hdd and i have to strip the entire laptop down to get at the hard drive its a ****take

adren · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:22

It does seem that part is custom, google showed a finished auction for that cable at £40, although nothing current.

Hzza · 9 Feb 2011 at 13:30

Michaeljcox24 said:
I never touch hardware faults on laptops. Minefield of possible **** ups and expensive parts.

This, I tried fixing my out of waranty MX1530 and it just ended in an even more broken laptop and wasted money.

shannowdr · 9 Feb 2011 at 14:03

Tried using a mini laptop mouse instead ?

Can scratch the case on the right hand side of the trackpad but it does work.

much cheaper than a £40 ribbon.

clade · 9 Feb 2011 at 14:21

the ribbon connects the keyboard aswell

keyboard > trackpad > mainboard.

Its a bugger, think i did it when making sure the cable was in securely. broke the thin copper at the end of the cable that fits inside the connector.

Where do all these repair shops get there parts, thats what i want to know! mabey they will sell me a part lol

jamesfreddie · 9 Feb 2011 at 19:42

Sony are arful but i still have a sony laptop. They are good laptops when they work!