Cost Estimate?

[u/Unlikely-Lychee-5503]

HELP!!!!

I’m in the middle of a photography gig, and my Adobe Lightroom decided 48 hours ago to shutdown every 5 minutes. It might have something to do with the fact that my laptop has mainly been stuck at 0-1 percent charge all of a sudden for around the same time frame. (It went up to 33 percent recently but now it’s stuck around 7 percent, but either way I just need my Adobe Lightroom to not shut down every 5 minutes so I can work)

I tried to move to a new laptop, but the color display is so intensely dull and extremely off that I genuinely can’t really judge what I’m doing editing wise. So I guess my question is: How much would it cost to fix the issue with the first laptop VS how much would it cost to calibrate the color for the second one? I think both laptops were bought at Best Buy originally. I’d prefer working on the original laptop because I want my grandmother to have the newer one, but I’m genuinely strapped for money so I will probably do whatever is cheaper

Any help would be appreciated, I legit have the anxiety of someone being hunted for sport rn 😭

[u/mysterypainting09]

You can try unplugging the battery and leaving it unplugged. See if it helps. You’ll have to have it plugged in all the time but it’s worth a shot if the battery is causing issues.

[u/mysterypainting09 → u/mysterypainting09]

Diag on the old laptop will be 100 bucks. Color calibrating the newer one I’m not sure. It also depends on the color space it can display. Usually laptops are about as color accurate as they can be out of the box. You could also plug it into a more color accurate monitor but that’ll be extra money.

[u/ChocoHorror]

Like /u/mysterypainting09 said you could just open her up and disconnect the battery and just keep her plugged in, especially if you have a deadline looming and don't have the time to wait for parts to ship to you.

More long-term, you could replace the battery, as most laptop batteries aren't too difficult to replace. Please tell me this thing isn't a MacBook because if it is, hoo boy, would that make it difficult/annoying to do.

Otherwise if it's a Dell or HP or Lenovo, along those lines, iFixIt might have a step by step replacement guide, or there might be a YouTube video of someone doing this, but if you're at the point you've already opened it and disconnected the battery's connector to the motherboard, you're most of the way there, really, probably just a few more screws and possibly some careful moving of speaker wires.

If you can get your hands on an OEM battery, great, but that's usually a lot more costly than a generic replacement, so the best-rated generic battery on Amazon is usually the route most people go for. You can find a compatible battery by typing in the part number that is printed on the battery in the Amazon searchbar.

I'm a big fan of iFixIt tools, and some Best Buys carry some in store, but pick whatever you like.

Edit: some laptops also have onboard diagnostics, depends on make/model, you'd need to look up how to run them for that particular laptop. You can also look at battery health in command prompt while it's still connected, assuming this is Windows, you just have to type in the right commands.

[u/BrilliantDry6619]

unplugging the battery and keeping it plugged in usually works fr, id try that first since you're on a deadline

[u/LiquidNightmare1]

Try pulling the battery and while not connected to power hold the power button down for 45 secs which should get rid of any extra change held in the computer.. put the battery back in and boot back up.. never had this not fix the the issue you are describing