Sometimes delay is OK

Some computer problems are genuinely fine to live with for a while. Others quietly get worse the longer they’re left, and become more expensive fixes, or in rare cases, safety issues. How to tell the two apart …

Signs it’s time to stop waiting

Anything physical or electrical. A burning smell, unusual heat, buzzing or grinding noises, or a battery that’s visibly swollen are all reasons to stop using the laptop right now and get it looked at. Don’t ‘see what happens’. You won’t like it.

Signs your data is at risk. A drive making clicking or grinding noises, files that are disappearing or won’t open properly, or crashes becoming more frequent – these point to a drive that’s failing, and the sooner it’s assessed, the better the odds of getting your files back. See our guide on data recovery if that’s already happened.

A problem that keeps coming back. A one-off freeze after a long stretch without a restart isn’t unusual. The same freeze happening over again, despite restarting, is a different situation – that’s a sign of something specific going wrong, not general wear.

A sudden decline rather than a gradual one. A laptop that was working fine yesterday and is suddenly unusable points to a specific fault worth diagnosing, rather than the slow, expected slowdown that comes with an ageing device.

Physical damage, even if it still seems to work. A drop or a spill can cause damage that isn’t obvious straight away. Worth getting checked even if it seems fine for now – see our guide on water damage to laptops if a spill is the cause.

Signs it’s probably fine to try something simple first

Not everything needs an immediate trip to a repair shop. A single freeze after the laptop’s been on for weeks without a restart, general sluggishness after a long stretch without clearing out junk files or installing updates, or a one-off glitch that doesn’t repeat — these are all reasonable to try a restart or a basic clean-up on first, before assuming the worst.

What a proper diagnosis catches that home troubleshooting doesn’t

A restart or a quick online search can fix plenty of minor issues, but it won’t tell you why a drive is starting to fail, whether a battery’s swelling is a one-off or a sign of a bigger issue, or whether a recurring crash is software or hardware driven. A proper diagnosis will identify the cause, so you know whether it’s a quick fix or something bigger.

Batteries mostly degrade slowly

If it just needs recharging more frequently, it might be just normal degradation, which happens over a period of years. Sudden dramatic changes: different thing.

Not sure if it’s worth a trip? Get in touch and describe what’s happening — we can usually tell you over the phone whether it’s worth bringing in. Checking out the laptop in the workshop generally costs $85.