Laptop guides

All guides

9 guides

• Selling and value

  Where to sell a laptop in the UK: the options compared

  Currys trade-in, musicMagpie, CeX, Back Market, a private sale and us, compared on how you're paid, how fast, and which of them take a broken laptop.

  4 min read

• Faults and damage

  Cracked laptop screen: repair it or sell it as it is

  Whether a screen repair pays for itself before you sell, which marks make a laptop Faulty on our form, and how to protect the screen and your files meanwhile.

  4 min read

• Faults and damage

  Spilled water on a laptop: what to do in the first minutes

  The steps to take in the first minutes after a spill, why sugary drinks are worse than water, and why a laptop that dries out and works again is still Faulty.

  4 min read

• Getting ready to sell

  How to wipe a laptop before you sell it

  The steps to wipe a Windows 11 or Windows 10 laptop before it goes: what to sort out first, which reset to pick, and the switch that cleans the drive.

  4 min read

• Selling and value

  How long do laptops last, and when to sell one

  Batteries, hinges, keyboards and fans wear out, but the processor and Windows support end a laptop's life sooner. Here's what to watch, and when selling makes sense.

  4 min read

• Selling and value

  What to do with an old laptop

  Four things to do with an old laptop, in the order we'd try them: sell it, pass it on, keep it as a spare, or recycle it. Wipe it first either way.

  4 min read

• Faults and damage

  Laptop won’t turn on? What to check first

  Four checks in the order worth doing them, the HP and Dell steps their own support pages give, and what a laptop that still won't start is worth to us.

  5 min read

• Laptop care

  Why is my laptop so slow? Checks, fixes and upgrades

  How to find what's slowing a laptop down in Task Manager, six fixes in the order worth trying them, the upgrades that make a difference, and when the processor is the limit.

  5 min read

• Laptop care

  How to make your laptop battery last longer

  Even though you can do practically anything on a laptop, they tend to become slaves to the mains. Constant connection to a power supply may mean that your…

  2 min read