Basic Rates Rundown

$125 an hour with a one-hour minimum for onsite service for homes

$150 an hour with a one-hour minimum for onsite service for businesses (Business clients receive priority) 

$100 an hour for remote service with a half-hour minimum

Some services such as Virus Removal and LCD screen replacement are $125 for labor plus the cost of LCD Screen

Trip Fees

Free if total miles round trip are below 40 miles 

$25 if total miles round trip are between 50-75 miles 

$50 if total miles round trip are between 75 -100 miles 

custom billed trip fees over 100 miles round trip

Payment Terms
By default, I expect payment after services are rendered but I also understand for businesses their CPA’s require invoices. I can also accept payment onsite and send you a paid invoice for your records.

Residential clients must pay after services are rendered due to the vast amount of home users who never paid their invoices. 
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Payment Methods
I accept credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) as well as Checks, Cash, Cash App, Venmo, and Paypal

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Warranty

Part & Labor Warranty is 30 days excluding Adware/Virus / Malware infections which is warrantied for 14 days. If file sharing programs such as FrostWire, torrents, or risky behavior are found to be the cause of reinfection it would be considered a new infection and subject to be billed.

Limited Hardware Warranty will be six months for NCG provided PC hardware only, not labor, after six months or if the customer provides hardware then falls to manufacture warranty to replace or repair unit at their discretion via the manufacture RMA process which can take a month or two. Otherwise, repairs can be done at regular prices with new hardware in a timelier manner.

See this page for Warranty and Terms of Service Information

I can’t do diagnostics on a computer that won’t turn on. Usually caused by a failed motherboard or power supply and cost varies greatly by brand and model. I would need to determine is it a power supply or motherboard issue first then know the exact model number of failed part to quote this.

Since the computer doesn’t turn on I would try replacing the power supply first then the motherboard would be next. Many times I find people made their own computer and made a mistake and nothing needs to be replaced, just tweaked, maybe something wasn’t plugged in. Sometimes I pull the parts out and install it all myself and the computer works fine. Too many variables for me to say this is the problem and this is the cost to fix it without working with it.  

If it is a laptop less than $500, often you are close to the cost of a new laptop as a laptop or All in One computer is all one piece.

For a desktop, it could be around $200-240 total if it is a power supply and that depends on what power supply you have, gaming systems will cost more than a typical low watt power supply.

Motherboards themselves vary from $40 to $1,200 depending on the brand, model, and supply & demand for such parts. Motherboards can take 1-3 hours to tear down old parts and move CPU, RAM, GPU, etc over, all depending on complexity. Every computer is different so having a single definitive answer is hard. 

It depends on why it isn’t booting up, all different prices. #1 reason is a Windows update or something caused Windows to get in an automatic repair loop or simply boots up to a blue screen. This would involve reinstalling Windows most of the time. The faster your machine is the faster it goes. I’ve installed in as little as 15 minutes for fast machines but it varies from 1 to 2 hours for most computers. $125 to $250 to install Windows. Installing programs back again will take additional time. 

#2 common reason is the hard drive has failed and the price depends on what size solid-state drive you want to go with. I have flat fees to install the drive, Windows, and apps or cloning your old drive to a new drive starting at $240+.

#3 less common but a bad CPU, RAM, and motherboard can cause the computer to turn on but not go to POST or load Windows. Cost all depends on what hardware failed. 

$125 for labor plus the cost of part and shipping for most laptops is the short answer.

Ideally, I need to take the laptop screen out and get numbers off the back of the screen to order the correct screen. Ordering by computer model number alone without taking the screen out is not always accurate as the same model might have both 30 pin or 40 pin connector while one can be on the left side while the right side for the other and have ordered the wrong part guessing which one to get.  There are also glossy and matte screens too for the same model number most of the time. 

As with all computer parts, cost varies between brand and model, and touchscreens are often double the cost of a non-touchscreen easily running $400+ for the part. Usually takes 3-5 days to turn around from the time I get the laptop to getting part in, replaced, and returned back to you.

A typical laptop screen replacement will be $200-225 total for a non-touchscreen. Touch screens could easily run $550+. All of this estimating as I would need to look up your exact screen to be accurate in quoting.   

FYI: We don’t replace the screens in All in One Computers, tablets, or phones. Also, we don’t replace screens in Apple products, many Mac screens run $500+ for the part itself, and just hard to make money after labor. 

The short answer is I need to know the exact fan you need to be replaced as there can be multiple fans of different sizes in a computer. If it makes a really loud banging noise, or you are getting fan errors on bootup then the fan probably needs to be replaced. Most laptops have one fan but some can have up to three. Sometimes they are all the same part number, sometimes not.  With my labor charge plus part, most single fan replacements will be in the $160-$200 range for the total.  If a fan replacement doesn’t fix your issue, it will fall under the usual hourly rate. 

Many laptop fans I can get in 3-5 days while some desktops and high-end laptops I have to order from overseas. It can take as much as a month to get some fans. In one week I had two fans arrived and replaced in two days. Another had fans that took over 3 months to arrive for another laptop. The more specialized it is like gaming laptops, usually the harder it is to find the part.  Common fan sizes are 120mm, 92mm, 80mm, 70mm, 50mm, 40mm, 35mm, and others. There are 3 pin and 4 pin connectors that connect the fan to the motherboard, there are CPU heatsink fans and regular system fans so with that many types of fans I have to make sure I order the right part and need the full model number of the computer or the numbers on the fan sticker itself. I get asked all the time what would it cost to replace the fan in their computer but without specifics, I can only guess. 

The long answer is it is not always the fan. Is this is a laptop that you are playing games on? or streaming video like Netflix for an extended time? Editing video? Anything resource-heavy and especially over hours will force the fans to run at their top speed. The best answer here is to get a desktop computer as laptops and All in Ones simply don’t have space and fans to get rid of heat. The second-best answer is to get a cooling pad, maybe $20-30 and the laptop will rest on top of it and will help get it cool. A desktop is always the best option for resource-heavy processes as they handle the heat a lot better than laptops and All-in-One units. Two things move in a computer and the two most common things to fail are fans and hard drives. If it spins, the part will end.

Some laptops that are 15 or 17 inches wide have just one small inch or two fans to keep cool and they just can’t keep up with the job. A true gaming desktop can have 6 or more large 92mm or 120mm fans but a large number of people might not know or expect the one 30mm laptop fan to keep a 381-431mm (15-17 in) laptop cool.

If you had the fan replaced before and still have issues, it could be another issue such as:

1. The motherboard has a thermal issue such as a bad sensor, bad capacitor, or resistor. If the motherboard thinks it is running hot when it isn’t then no amount of replacing fans will matter. Some companies like HP use proprietary fans that tell the motherboard the temperature and RPM’s, if I don’t get the exact fan, you might end up with fan errors on bootup.
2. Some brands have software that controls the fan settings and maybe it is a bug in the software and there is an update for it. HP cool sense is one, Dell laptops were notorious for years for fan issues and there was a program I could install that lets you force to down or up as needed as the laptop ran at full speed all the time. 
3. Maybe there is a BIOS update that will fix a known issue with the fans. One HP model had two BIOS upgrades to handle an issue where the fans ran only at medium or high speed.  
4. Could be a system cooling setting, either active or passing cooling. When plugged in most laptops will be active cooling, when on battery everything slows down to save power and extend the battery life so it could automatically switch to passive cooling then and the fans will lower in speed just as the CPU and GPU will slow down. When you plug in the laptop, they will run at the max performance which will mean much more heat which means the fan kicks in at top speed to keep the laptop from overheating. So settings could be changed but then I’ll be getting calls about replacing the battery when the battery is fine it is trying to preserve as much battery as it can. 
5. If it is a corrupt software issue, I could try reinstalling Windows and seeing fixes the issue. 
6.  Sometimes good old canned air blowing out the fans will help. It is amazing how much they are caked in dust bunnies and hair over time. 

About 30% of the people I replace fans with say the issues come back often in a month or so, sometimes right away for the people playing games. That doesn’t mean it is defective or I failed at my job, it can simply mean you are running your computer at max output. A fan is usually 2-4 screws and a connector that plugs into the motherboard. Not a lot that can go wrong with installing. Often getting to the fan is the hard part.  I can replace fans over and over again but there probably is a more complex issue at hand. There is nothing I can do to help other than the recommendations before or if it only happens when you play games or when you edit video, don’t play games or edit video. The fan isn’t the issue, the game is. I could replace the fan every week but you will never find a resolution until you get a computer that can handle your task. Running your car at full power isn’t good for the engine, the same for a laptop. That is why the bottom of the laptop can get very hot. Eventually, you might have a motherboard failure if it overheats too much.  

All that to say it is hard to give a straight answer from the start, I will assume the fan is defective and replace it but if it doesn’t solve your issue then I will have to try more involved options. It is best for you or me to open the computer apart and get the numbers off the sticker on the fan so I can quote/order the right part. I have ordered some fans that were $250 for some laptops and took three months to arrive and some fans cost $4 -$20 and take a few days to get so wide range of price and time but also of quality. Do you really think that a $4 fan will cool an entire laptop?   

HP’s are notorious for fan failure on both desktops and laptops. Older Dell’s had many issues with fans too. Even replacing the fan might not solve overheating issues, laptops simply don’t handle heat as well as a desktop. For a laptop, I recommend a cooling pad as well. 

$125 for the one-hour minimum for me to diagnose it or have a good guess. Dells, HP’s, and Apples have built-in diagnostics in most models but other brands don’t have any so I can’t run a diagnostic on it. Even computers with built-in diagnostics can sometimes pass diagnostics that really is defective. I can only guess. I might be able to guess for free if you let me know as many details as possible beforehand. In some cases, I’ll have to order parts and see if it fixes the problem and frankly it becomes time-consuming and expensive to diagnose some problems like blue screen of death errors. 

In many ways, this is a great catch 22. I don’t know the problem until I fix it, I have to fix it to know the time and therefore cost and many people don’t want me to work on it until they know the cost and time it will take. I simply don’t have a great answer to how much will it cost and how long will it take? If I do something to test if it is the problem and the problem goes away it wouldn’t be ethical for me to break it just to tell you yeah this is your problem. I have had people get upset that I fixed their problem when they only wanted a diagnosis. 

Just like doctors call it medical practice, so is being a  computer doctor a practice. I just have 14 years of experience to guess from.  I often say each computer I see is a unicorn, I’ll never see the same hardware model/software combination most likely again. That makes your issue possibly unique. Just because the last two people were fixed this way doesn’t mean the same fix will work for you.

The problem in the computer field is 5 to 10 things can cause the exact same problem and each problem can have 5-10 possible solutions. Blue screens of death errors can be the motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, a USB device, it can software too. In fact, when looking at errors on Microsoft’s official website it will often say hardware or software could be the cause. Which of course doesn’t help me in the least since those two are the only options it can be. 

The truth is by the time I diagnose your computer in the case of hardware, I have actually fixed it, in most cases. Many tutorials will list 10 things to try and I’ll try every one until it works.  I will often replace hardware the cheapest and easiest to replace first and then process of elimination from there. A computer doesn’t turn on? Replacing the power supply is a quick test to see if it is a motherboard issue or not. If I replace a motherboard or power supply and it works while I have now both diagnosed it and fixed it. 

Maybe someday they will make devices as they have for cars where you hook it up the car and it tells what is wrong with it. I think there are too many brands and models for a device to keep up with so it falls on experience more so than running a diagnostic scan. 

Fast, Cheap, or Good? Pick Two. You get what you pay for in computers, the more expensive, the better quality it will be.  People so often buy on price alone then complain it is slow and want it upgraded later. It is easier to invest from the start than spend hundreds later to upgrade. I get it, everyone wants a $400,000 car but pay $400.

The vast amount of my repair request is fixing cheap devices less than $400. The average lifespan of a computer is 3-5 years. If it is over 5 years, you could upgrade it which I would be glad to take your money. However, you will probably be better off getting a new computer in most cases. 

Got a $200- $250 HP Steam or Chromebook and you need it serviced? I would honestly get a new one since my minimum charge is $125 to look at it. The part itself could be a quarter or half the cost of a new one and assuming just one hour to replace the part you will be paying just as much to fix it and it is to buy a new one.  

For anything below $400, with my hourly charge and cost of parts, it rarely is worth fixing as almost anything will start you at $200 for the repair. The cheaper it is, ironically the more complex it can be to fix it so the repair charge can go higher. I replaced a $500 HP laptop hard drive and it was about 40 screws and took a while, the same day a $2,000 Dell business laptop needed the hard drive replaced and it was two screws. I have speculated that manufacturers do this on purpose so that people just buy a new computer rather than fix what they have. 

If your computer was $1,000-2,000 when you bought it new, it might actually be worth upgrading or repairing. 

Once you get a new computer I can help transfer files over from the old computer, even if it doesn’t turn on. 

I recommend the following configuration, an Intel i5, i7 or i9 processor, 12GB of RAM or higher, preferably a Solid State Drive for ultimate performance. I would recommend no less than 512GB for the hard drive. 1TB recommended.

I like Dell Latitude for laptops and Dell OptiPlex for desktops. 

The difference between a solid-state drive and a regular drive can often be minutes faster. A Solid State Drive is what Apple calls Flash storage for the main OS/Apps and then use a second standard drive for storage.

The easiest advice is you get what you pay for. Almost always the truth a $1,000 computer will be better than a $500 computer. I would recommend not paying less than $500 for a new computer otherwise it be slow and you will pay more to upgrade it later. 

Desktop computers are easier to service and tend to have more power than a laptop or an All-in-One. Business-grade run better, last longer, and are easier to service than consumer (home) grade electronics so I recommend a business class machine for everyone. Better to have a faster machine than you need than buy on price and have a slow machine. Also, every person uses it in different ways, a person gaming or editing video needs a top of the line computer while a person browsing the internet and email might not need much. 

I have to be honest that working all day long fixing technology leaves little time, energy, and will to explore the latest offerings in the world of software and hardware. Having been working on computers since the mid-’90s, a lot has changed. With new models, updates and upgrades coming out constantly, it is very hard to stay on top of everything with a power button, let alone know how it works and to fix it.

Another challenge to making recommendations is I’ve had to work on every brand computer, printer, software, even the ones I’m recommending I’ve had to replace so there is no PERFECT option that will be immune to problems or failure. A perfect computer does not exist. I’ve dedicated a lot of time to research and put together this list of recommendations based on Consumer Reports, PC Magazine, Tech Radar reviews, what has worked well in my experience and what I hear clients rave about so these are the recommendations I have as of December 2019.

You get what you pay for, cheaper computers break the most and often cost more in the long term. If you get a $300 computer, you will probably need $300 or more to upgrade it to make it run like a $600 computer. One way or another you pay for a good computer, either upfront or later to upgrade. 

Avoid a slow computer out of the box

Clients with most AMD processors (AMD FX CPU, AMD Athlon X4 are ok), Intel Atom, Celeron, m core processors especially struggle with speed, many times just web browsing is awaiting chore, Core m-style chips include a “Y” in their model number, like this: i5-7Y54. Chips that traditionally would have been in the Core i line will continue to end their name with U, like this: i5-7200U.  So the U is the better option than the Y.

Printers

The problem with All-In-One Machines is they have a printer, scanner and fax in one machine often for $150 or below giving the impression that they will do what you need. My experience is they break down often in business environments due to cheap parts. I often hear it is only a year old, how could it be broken? Often they scan hundreds of pages a week for a machine that was designed for maybe a hundred a month.

Same with printers, a business using a consumer-grade machine will fail or have lots of problems. A true business printer or scanner is thousands of dollars. Locally speaking, RJ Young and Nova Copy allow you to lease commercial grade machines.

Needs are different, one person needs a good document scanner, another needs a good photo scanner. One needs to print a lot in black and another needs color.

Laser has sharper text than inkjet printers, Laser is also better for volume over inkjet.

Printers for Home

I find HP OfficeJet and ENVY work generally well for light home use. I get a lot of calls about HP and Brothers all in one machines that print but not scan. If that is a problem with the printer model or just because so many people have them I don’t know.

I would avoid HP OfficeJet 8600, 8610, 8620. I get a lot of calls on those models not working right.

The short answer is there isn’t much you can do with printers beyond reinstalling the software and checking the USB / Wifi connection. HP printers by far make up most of my calls. They either print but don’t scan or scan but don’t print. HP printers are very problematic, especially the 8600, 8610, and 8620 series printers. They have lots of wifi printing issues. 

Most home-grade printers are not made to be fixable. They don’t sell parts and if they did you will pay more to fix it than you would just to replace the printer which is why few places fix home-grade printers.  I don’t work on the printer hardware.  For such repairs, I would recommend Printer Repair Group at 615-656-4220 or MIDCOM at 615-970-7900 as they are the only places in town that do such repairs.  If the printer was less than $150 I would recommend getting a new printer. 

Seagate 1TB hard drives by far are the most common hard drives to fail. I would highly recommend letting us clone the drive to a new Solid-state drive before it fails because in my experience they tend to start failing around the third year. 

Please have at least one backup option, having a cloud and local backup is great.  Too often people call in a panic and their whole digital life is on this one hard drive and need it recovered and not realizing $200 to get backups going could prevent an $800-3,800 bill later.  I had a client who canceled their $60 carbonite bill to save money and had a hard drive die months later and it cost them nearly $4,000. Don’t be penny-wise and dollar foolish when it comes to your data. 

For software yes, I can reinstall the OS, upgrade them, pretty much anything software-wise. I can set them up and transfer files from one machine to a new computer. I use an iPhone, iPad and a MacBook Pro myself so I’m pretty familiar with them

 The truth about Apple is Hardware repair and replacement is more limited. I have to buy used apple parts most of the time as apple won’t sell me new parts. There is a reason so few companies work on Apple products. I can’t replace, repair or upgrade many aspects of Apple products. “Right to repair” legislation is being fought all over the country. Apple intentionally makes repairing their products complex at best or impossible. They use proprietary screws and parts that only approved repair shops can access.

Apple’s policies are notorious within the repair community. Independent providers have to pay Apple to become “authorized service providers,” which up until last year, was the only way to receive genuine Apple parts. At one point it took buying a minimum of $100,000 worth of apple products every year to be an authorized Apple provider so you can get access to repair manuals and genuine parts of Apple.  Even now, independent shops can’t get the tools or parts to fix all issues with Apple devices, only those that Apple allows, like screen and battery fixes. In response, right-to-repair advocates want state legislation that would require Apple and other electronics makers to put manuals online, make tools available, and sell genuine parts. Apple has argued it’s dangerous for people to open their electronics, it’s difficult, and security could be compromised if independent repair shops have access to diagnostic tools. 

They have increasingly made parts expensive and difficult to replace so you will keep buying new products from them. Apple has started to solder in hard drives and RAM in the new computers so barely anything is upgradeable or replaceable. You have no choice but to buy a new computer. They have also made the screen display, battery, and keyboard replacements more difficult. I can replace hard drives and Memory in older models such as 2015 and before in most cases. For example, a 2017 macbook pro 11 inch has 88 steps and takes up to 3 hours to replace a battery in it. There is a real risk of the computer catching on fire and I get calls from people who tried to replace it themselves and saying their machine was in flames. Many PC batteries take 5 seconds at most to replace for comparison. 

MacBook Air: Most models from 2017 and below have hard drive upgrade options.

MacBook Pros: Both 13-inch and 15-inch models 2015 and below can be upgraded. Non-Retina MacBook Pro units up to late 2016 may also have an option, but most units from 2016 on are very limited on both upgrades and replacement options as everything is built into the logic board. You might as well might a new machine. 

Battery replacements are difficult after 2012, they glued the battery in some models which meant you had to replace the entire top case enclosure, including the keyboard and trackpad. This is because the battery is glued into the top case in Mac notebooks with Retina displays. It is very labor-intensive for some models while older models 2012 and before took mere minutes to do. 

iMac’s – due to the double-sided tape and tedious nature of iMac’s we don’t do hardware upgrades or repairs on iMacs, however software work can be done.  

I do however have a side tech who can work on some of these products as a side hobby. However, be prepared for many repairs and upgrades to run $500-$1,000. Apple parts are expensive and labor is complex and time-consuming. Some logic boards are over $1,000 for just the part. 

Warranty as of 12/17/17

Part & Labor Warranty is 30 days excluding Adware/Virus / Malware infections which is warrantied for 14 days. If file sharing programs such as FrostWire, torrents, or risky behavior are found to be the cause of reinfection it would be considered a new infection and subject to be billed.
Limited Hardware Warranty will be six months for NCG provided PC hardware only, not labor, after six months or if the customer provides hardware then falls to manufacture warranty to replace or repair unit at their discretion via the manufacture RMA process which can take a month or two. Otherwise, repairs can be done at regular prices with new hardware in a timelier manner.

Apple Warranty

Apple Hardware, as well as hardware that is over 4 years, may not have a warranty due to the scarcity of trying to procure item and used or recycled hardware may be used to keep cost low.  NCG doesn’t work for and isn’t authorized by Apple to do warranty repairs as parts are likely to be used that we can procure. Screens, logic boards are limited to 30 days hardware warranty.

Limited hardware warranty does not cover:

Customer provided Equipment, Software, including the operating system, third-party software, or the reloading of software. Peripherals / Accessories are not included, including an external hard drive, printer, scanner, wireless routers, cable modem or DSL modem.

Limited Warranty covers hard drive, motherboard, memory, CPU, power supply, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, cameras, and microphones.

The following voids any warranty provided by NCG:

External causes such as an accident, fall, abuse, misuse, environmental factors or problems with electrical power like power surges or failures, water or liquid damage, tinkering or self-diagnosed, Improper or incorrectly performed maintenance or repair voids this warranty not done by NCG.

Usage that is not in accordance with product instructions, Failure to follow the product instructions or failure to perform preventive maintenance, and proper computer hygiene / best practices for adware, viruses, Trojan horses or other malicious software.

No, we don’t. In our experience, they often break again and risk of ruining the motherboard too when soldering. Often getting the part can take 3-4 weeks. I would replace the motherboard which will fix that issue as well but it would be a few hundred dollars. 

At one point Eagle Computers and Micom Systems were one of the few places in Nashville that did this repair. 

Forensics 

I don’t want to get involved in legal issues and possible court cases. A spouse wanting me to dig around for evidence that their partner is cheating can be a violation of the other person’s privacy if they are the owner of the computer as well. If you are serious about forensics, discovering if you were legibility hacked, and dealing with all the issues that P.I. could help with I would recommend contacting these people. I have been told many people have $2,000 retainers but I have never worked with any of them. Again if you are serious about determining if you were hacked or dealing with a legal issue you need people trained in the legality of forensics. 

http://jacobsinvestigations.com/

Phone – 615.367.3659

Mobile – 615.506.3597

Email – info@jacobsinvestigations.com

Divorce, Cheaters or Child Custody

Surveillance

Cellphone, Smartphone and tablet Forensics

Text Message Recovery

Computer Forensics

Electronic Debugging  (Bug Sweeps)

Polygraph Testing

Missing Persons

Runaways

Insurance Fraud

Interviews and Interrogations

Homicide and Wrongful Death

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Forensic Pursuit 

https://www.forensicpursuit.com/contact/nashville 

Nashville Office
424 Church Street
Suite 2000
Nashville, TN 37219
(615) 486-2082

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My CFI – http://www.mycfi.co/  Doc@MyCFI.co

Hours of Operation:

Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST

Nights & Weekends: by Appointment Only

Address:

My CFI

1151 S Willow Ave. Suite D Cookeville, TN 38506

Phone: 1-931-432-6857

Cell: 1-931-261-6857

Hacking

Hacking is a real issue but honestly, most people think they are hacked or being hacked I can’t find evidence to support that. In most cases that I have helped with everything is working normally but the client is so convinced they are hacked that nothing I can say or show them can sway their view. I have lost count of how many people have got new computers, new phones, and new phone numbers, new emails, new passwords, new router, and cable modem, some went as far as moving to a different house and still swears they have hacked again within hours.  I am very limited in what I can do, I don’t have the power to force Comcast to reveal the name and address of an IP address even if I could find that information. This would involve the police in order for them. When you dealing with high-level crimes, you need the force of the FBI to investigate not a computer tech like me. 

I have had people accused me of working with the hacker or being the hacker themselves. Trust me I can’t hack your stuff, I’m far from being that smart. Apple is offering between $100,000 and $1 million for anyone who can hack an iPhone. Apple has massively increased the amount it’s offering hackers for finding vulnerabilities in iPhones and Macs, up to $1.5 million. Even the FBI themselves sued Apple because they couldn’t get into an iPhone. If your ex, your old boss, that guy you met once, that computer tech from years ago is so good at hacking even a brand new iPhone then they could be rich, let alone they are better than the entire FBI.  

All that to say, I will do everything I can to make sure you are protected but it isn’t cheap for cyberdefense. Companies have major data breaches all the time that make the news if their 1-10 million dollar cybersecurity budgets can’t stop everything. How can expect a $50 Norton subscription protect you? If you are willing to invest thousands of dollars I can make it more secure but nothing is 100% safe unless it is offline. 

Other than getting a firewall setup, wipe your devices, set up a new device, the next thing is to file a report with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. I have filed multiple reports with them for clients who felt they were being hacked and neither I nor they ever heard back from the FBI. 

Honestly, I cut deals when I take it with me. You will pay less by letting me take it or if you meet me with it saving me drive time. If I have to wait 6 hours onsite to copy data, install programs, etc I can’t do any other work so I’m solely devoted to just you. Therefore I charge for the time on site. If I take it home with me and it takes 10 hours in real-time, I might charge 2-3 hours. It is because I can work on multiple computers at the same time and I don’t have to stare at your computer full time. 

I try to do as much as I can onsite but when it comes to hardware upgrades and repairs I often have to take the computer apart, order the part and when it comes in I will replace it and bring it back to you. Doing it onsite, will be $125 per visit minimum, if I can take it, bringing it back to you is no charge.  

It all depends on what is wrong. We will go as fast as we can because we know it is important to you. Most onsite home clients are an hour visit, sometimes two hours.  Most onsite business clients are two to four hours.

If I have to take the computer, I usually have the computer back to you within a day of getting the parts.

Most hard drive upgrades/replacements are done by the next day.

Researching the part, ordering it, and getting it are usually 2-5 days. Once the part arrives I try to get back to you within a day, even the same day if possible. 

It depends on the extent of the damage, sometimes a broken hinge will break the plastic on the bottom assembly as well. You could expect a typical hinge replacement to be $160-200 for part and labor. It all depends how on expensive the part is and if there is any additional damage.   

Yes, but more limited in what I can replace. They are basically a large laptop. I don’t replace the screens or motherboards in these machines. The power supply usually can’t be replaced unless you replace the motherboard.

I often can replace/upgrade RAM, hard drives, and fans in these types of machines.  

We can help you set up the phone, get your email, apps installed, etc. So software yes, I am very familiar with iPhones, but the hardware I don’t do.

We don’t repair the hardware of phones such as battery and screen replacements. 

The short answer is no. Many monitors don’t have replaceable parts and like printers would cost more to fix than to replace. I would recommend getting a new monitor or contacting the manufacturer who made it. 

uBreakiFix will fix game consoles around Nashville. There are so many brands and models of technology to keep track of, game consoles just isn’t our focus.

Yes, almost everything in a desktop is replaceable while many parts can be upgraded too. Desktops are the most repairable type of product.

Yes but since laptops are mostly one large Integrated piece, not much is fixable, it would have to be replaced instead. In many cases the motherboard will need to be replaced and since it often has the CPU, all the ports like usb, GPU, and more it is the most expensive part of the laptop to replace. Often with labor, it gets close to the cost of what the laptop was when bought.

In most laptops, the RAM, Hard Drives, and Fans are about the only parts that can be replaced or upgraded. However, newer models are starting to integrate hard drives and RAM so the motherboard needs replaced in those cases. 

For software yes, I can reinstall the OS, upgrade them, pretty much anything software-wise. I can set them up and transfer files from one machine to a new computer. I use an iPhone, iPad and a MacBook Pro myself so I’m pretty familiar with them

 The truth about Apple is Hardware repair and replacement is more limited. I have to buy used apple parts most of the time as apple won’t sell me new parts. There is a reason so few companies work on Apple products. I can’t replace, repair or upgrade many aspects of Apple products. “Right to repair” legislation is being fought all over the country. Apple intentionally makes repairing their products complex at best or impossible. They use proprietary screws and parts that only approved repair shops can access.

Apple’s policies are notorious within the repair community. Independent providers have to pay Apple to become “authorized service providers,” which up until last year, was the only way to receive genuine Apple parts. At one point it took buying a minimum of $100,000 worth of apple products every year to be an authorized Apple provider so you can get access to repair manuals and genuine parts of Apple.  Even now, independent shops can’t get the tools or parts to fix all issues with Apple devices, only those that Apple allows, like screen and battery fixes. In response, right-to-repair advocates want state legislation that would require Apple and other electronics makers to put manuals online, make tools available, and sell genuine parts. Apple has argued it’s dangerous for people to open their electronics, it’s difficult, and security could be compromised if independent repair shops have access to diagnostic tools. 

They have increasingly made parts expensive and difficult to replace so you will keep buying new products from them. Apple has started to solder in hard drives and RAM in the new computers so barely anything is upgradeable or replaceable. You have no choice but to buy a new computer. They have also made the screen display, battery, and keyboard replacements more difficult. I can replace hard drives and Memory in older models such as 2015 and before in most cases. For example, a 2017 macbook pro 11 inch has 88 steps and takes up to 3 hours to replace a battery in it. There is a real risk of the computer catching on fire and I get calls from people who tried to replace it themselves and saying their machine was in flames. Many PC batteries take 5 seconds at most to replace for comparison. 

MacBook Air: Most models from 2017 and below have hard drive upgrade options.

MacBook Pros: Both 13-inch and 15-inch models 2015 and below can be upgraded. Non-Retina MacBook Pro units up to late 2016 may also have an option, but most units from 2016 on are very limited on both upgrades and replacement options as everything is built into the logic board. You might as well might a new machine. 

Battery replacements are difficult after 2012, they glued the battery in some models which meant you had to replace the entire top case enclosure, including the keyboard and trackpad. This is because the battery is glued into the top case in Mac notebooks with Retina displays. It is very labor-intensive for some models while older models 2012 and before took mere minutes to do. 

iMac’s – due to the double-sided tape and tedious nature of iMac’s we don’t do hardware upgrades or repairs on iMacs, however software work can be done.  

I do however have a side tech who can work on some of these products as a side hobby. However, be prepared for many repairs and upgrades to run $500-$1,000. Apple parts are expensive and labor is complex and time-consuming. Some logic boards are over $1,000 for just the part. 

Yes, but more limited in what I can replace. They are basically a large laptop. I don’t replace the screens or motherboards in these machines. The power supply usually can’t be replaced unless you replace the motherboard.

I often can replace/upgrade RAM, hard drives, and fans in these types of machines.