Introduction
The motherboard (also known as a mainboard or system board) is the main circuit board that fits inside your computer that all the other components- including the processor- are attached to. With a desktop or tower PC, it’s generally easier to replace rather than repair them (though that’s certainly possible). With laptops, it’s generally not possible to replace them and a repair (or new computer) is usually the only option.
Desktop and Tower PC Motherboard Replacement
With desktop and tower PCs, it’s generally straightforward to upgrade or replace the motherboard.
One reason you might want to do this is that you want to upgrade the processor– generally, motherboards only support certain groups or families of processors. If your computer is a few years old, you may have to replace the motherboard with one that supports the new processor you want.
Fortunately, you can generally keep your computer’s existing RAM (most motherboards built since around 2009 use DDR3 or DDR4 RAM modules), hard drive, graphics card, etc.
For the most part, it’s rarely worthwhile repairing a desktop motherboard as the cost of a new one is generally so low.
Mainboard Repair and Replacement for Laptop and All-in-One Computers
Generally speaking, it’s not possible to upgrade the motherboard on laptop computers, or certain tightly-integrated all-in-one computers such as the Apple iMac. However, the mainboards in these computers can often still be replaced with another of the same type.
Motherboards for laptops and all-in-ones generally aren’t as readily-available as desktop motherboards and, as such, usually cost a lot more to source. For this reason, it’s often worthwhile repairing them if (e.g.) only a particular jack or socket is faulty.
Either way, if your laptop or all-in-one’s motherboard is faulty, it might still be possible to have it economically repaired for far less than the cost of a whole new computer. Please feel free to ask our friendly staff how they can get your computer up and running again!
