For the first time in my history of repairing computers I’ve noticed a trend of disabling useless features on laptops and computers. Removing functionality, rather than repair, has been the choice for many customers grappling with repair prices. Fixing some laptop features, like a touchscreen, simply doesn’t make economic sense.

Saturday’s customer was the owner of a $450.00 laptop with a broken touchscreen. The customer explained that she’s always hated the touch because it serves no purpose and makes navigating more difficult. Her choice was to replace the $300.00 part or purchase a new laptop. I found myself offering a third option.

Computers and laptops, like other devices, come with multiple options. The same series of computer can, and almost definitely does, have multiple versions for different markets. Manufacturers will use the same plastic case and swap different processors, memory and other features which can make purchasing a daunting task.

Throughout my twenty year history with my company I’ve seen a ton of trends come and go. Sometimes I wonder why manufacturers stopped and other times I’m thankful they did. Touchscreens are one of those I don’t see hanging around too long simply because they serve no useful purpose on a laptop. Someone had an idea that adding touch functionality would make laptops more viable in a tablet economy.

Tablets took the IT world by storm as an inexpensive alternative to computers. Laptops were rapidly being displaced and manufacturers needed a way to stay competitive while offering tablet users a familiar interface. My crystal ball tells me we’ll see computer manufacturers shift from computers with touchscreens to fully touchscreen based computers that fill the void between a tablet and laptop.

The four basic components of any computer or laptop are processor, memory, graphics chipset and hard drive. I’ve really dumbed it down, but those are the most basic ingredients of any computer. Computer equipment being purchased on a budget shouldn’t have any other options but those I’ve listed; unfortunately, computers purchased at department stores typically have a lower end processor packaged with amazing and useless features.

I recently purchased a business class laptop for resale in one of my stores where reselling isn’t frowned upon. After looking up the model and specifications one of my young employees questioned why a $1,500.00 laptop had no extra features. He completely overlooked the fact that it had the latest i7 processor, 16GB the newest memory and a lightning fast solid state drive. Adding extras for the same money would have taken away from functionality.

Apple, for one, has resisted including extras in its line of laptops. As a top tier manufacturer, Apple includes the basics and perfects their combination to provide a product that functions as it should. In the defense of every other manufacturer, it’s impossible to find a new Apple laptop at a competitive price to HP, Dell or Lenovo. My point is simply that better quality computers don’t need to include all those extra bobbles.

I want you to walk away from this week’s article with a couple things. First, extra stuff like thumb print readers, touchscreens and fancy plastic cases take away from money the manufacturer could have spent on extra memory or a better processor. Second, spending more doesn’t always get more when it comes to technology. The final point you should know is that the extra stuff is what costs the most to have repaired. Wait, maybe I should rethink this week’s article.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)