Keeping Out-of-Warranty Gadgets Alive

Even the most conspiracy-theory-averse folks often have no trouble believing that electronics manufacturers design their products to malfunction right after their warranties expire. Having dealt with enough products that crapped out well before my one-year was up, though, I'm much more inclined to chalk up the gadget's untimely death to poor manufacturing than any sort of evil plan.

Still, many people think that a product that fails outside of its warranty is part of the company's idea of "planned obsolescence". In other words, the company hopes that by the time their first gadget fails, you'll be ready for their next generation product, anyway. But some of us like our products just as they were, so we're willing to do whatever it takes to keep them running. The Consumerist points out that there are plenty of folks out there who can quickly get your old gear back in working order. In particular, they recommend TechRestore, which fixes loose laptop power plugs and cracked screens, among all sorts of other stuff.