Help Trying to fix my skint son's HP laptop - anyone deep into electronics?

[Jupitus]

Hey gang - looking for a cheap and simple easy purchase laptop for my eldest who is struggling with cost of living shite.... only needs to run basic shizzle - any recommendations pls ?

 

[MYstIC G]

Hey gang - looking for a cheap and simple easy purchase laptop for my eldest who is struggling with cost of living shite.... only needs to run basic shizzle - any recommendations pls ?

Target budget Juplar?

 

[Jupitus]

Target budget Juplar?

dunno - 200-300 ? They come that cheap yet?

 

[Syri]

At that price point you might be best going for a used model, otherwise you'll be looking at celeron level performance and either a mechanical hard drive or emmc storage. emmc is basically an SD card soldered to the motherboard, which is generally slow and has a low capacity and lifespan. The only thing with a used model is the battery will probably be on its way out after a couple of years, so if using it on battery is more important, new is probably better.
I'd try to avoid HP though, their build quality is shocking lately, especially on cheaper models.

 

[Aoami]

T1A Refurbished Lenovo T460 Core i5 8GB 240GB SSD 14" Win10 Pro Laptop | Ebuyer.com refurb, but good spec for the price

 

[ECA]

laptops direct have a decent range , just make sure the screen is fullhd some budget laptops even these days have like 1233/768 garbage.

If it's nothing intensive chromebooks are fine as well.

 

[MYstIC G]

Slightly higher but honestly something like this will last longer

HUAWEI MateBook D15 (8GB/512GB), Win11 ,15.6, Ryzen 5 5500U, Fingerprint Power button - £399.99 (free click and collect) @ Argos | hotukdeals

www.hotukdeals.com

Within the range: HUAWEI Matebook D 15 Windows 10 Home i3/8GB/256GB/Multi-Screen Collaboration / Space Grey - £299.99 with code @ Huawei - hotukdeals

 

[BloodOmen]

Be careful with ones from brands like MSI Etc, the last 2 laptops I've bought from MSI have overheated like fuck. A lot of laptops these days seem to disregard thermals. I know most modern laptops are built to run at higher temps but the MSI ones I had were taking the absolute piss, literally couldnt put them on your lap/knee they got THAT hot.

 

[Raven]

The battery will always be the weak part of any used or refurbished laptop, so maybe worth pricing in a replacement, or at least planning for a replacement battery down the line, 3rd party will generally be fine.

Wife is very happy with her HP, a couple of years old now, she uses it for MS office stuff, nothing that really pushes it.

 

[Syri]

Be careful with ones from brands like MSI Etc, the last 2 laptops I've bought from MSI have overheated like fuck. A lot of laptops these days seem to disregard thermals. I know most modern laptops are built to run at higher temps but the MSI ones I had were taking the absolute piss, literally couldnt put them on your lap/knee they got THAT hot.

Anything with vents underneath is not designed to be used on the lap (or other soft surfaces such as a bed). I know the most common term is "laptop", but this is mostly because the name just stuck, despite an attempt to push the term "notebook" more. If it's got vents underneath, it needs those clear for the air intake, so to use it on your lap you'd need some kind of tray.

 

[Scouse]

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-acer-aspire-3-a314-22-amd-ryzen-3-3250u-8gb-128gb-14-inch-windo-a2-nx.a32ek.00a/version.asp

??

Running W11 - so you know the components are capable.... less than £300...

 

[BloodOmen]

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-acer-aspire-3-a314-22-amd-ryzen-3-3250u-8gb-128gb-14-inch-windo-a2-nx.a32ek.00a/version.asp

??

Running W11 - so you know the components are capable.... less than £300...

That's actually not bad for the price tbh

 

[Jupitus]

Holy Baloney!! This was ages ago and I still don't have it sorted!!! Truth is, I started researching this stuff and decided (probably wrongly) that we could have a stab at a DIY repair of his old HP ( HP 15-bs506na). Months later, and it is sitting on my table here, in parts, amongst a whole heap of soldering kit I've bought as I have gone through learning as much as I can.

But - I am stuck, sort of...

So - anyone good at this stuff out there? (I'll be changing the thread title just 'cos I can BTW). 2 key things:

1. I have 2 replacement charging port connectors, the adapter from the wall is giving out 19.5V but I don't get anything like that from all the pins on the motherboard connector vs. ground. Deffo a dead replacement port? 2 of them?

2. I am in the process of replacing the power switch board, and spotted something odd. There are 4 wires from the power switch board to the motherboard, and a 4 pin plug it connects to. When a continuity test those 4 pins on the board without the switch connected, I find pins 1 and 4 seem to be connected together somewhere on the mobo as they short.... despite hours of googling I cannot find out if this is actually correct or not.... anyone with experience got any ideas?

I have learned a lot, spent a lot, and still have a busted laptop on my table

 

[Syri]

If the power switch lights up when it's on, the extra pins are probably for the light, though I can't say if they should be connecting somewhere.
The charger port might have some sort of power switching involved, I believe some HP models can vary the charge rate depending on demand, but not 100% sure about that, just remember seeing something about some of them supporting dynamic charging or something when I worked in the laptop repair centre. Depending on whether the new parts are brand new or second hand though, it wouldn't surprise me to see 2 dead connectors, as the pins in those are very weak and get broken easily.
I can't really help with anything on the circuit board side, as I was only doing component swaps, we had a separate team that did all of the more involved stuff.

 

[Jupitus]

If the power switch lights up when it's on, the extra pins are probably for the light, though I can't say if they should be connecting somewhere.
The charger port might have some sort of power switching involved, I believe some HP models can vary the charge rate depending on demand, but not 100% sure about that, just remember seeing something about some of them supporting dynamic charging or something when I worked in the laptop repair centre. Depending on whether the new parts are brand new or second hand though, it wouldn't surprise me to see 2 dead connectors, as the pins in those are very weak and get broken easily.
I can't really help with anything on the circuit board side, as I was only doing component swaps, we had a separate team that did all of the more involved stuff.

Thanks Syri - both charging ports are supposedly new, and it won't even power on so can't answer the LED question.... thanks for your response!!