When my beloved Panasonic W2 laptop started crashing upon boot-up after 5 years of trouble-free use all over the globe, I initially thought (hoped) it might be a defective memory card. When that wasn't it, I figured it was the hard drive. I found a company called Lapfix in Falls Church, Virginia who was willing promptly to replace the hard drive for a flat fee of $45 plus the cost of the drive, which was reasonably priced but needed to be ordered. I left my laptop with them. After the hard drive came in and was installed, they informed me that the unit was still not rebooting properly and that they had narrowed down the culprit to the video card on the system board. (In hindsight I had had a clue about this from a Windows error message after a crash but had discounted its relevance.) They told me they had searched for a replacement system board but the only ones they could locate were too expensive compared with the value of the laptop. There was one possible fix they could try, but it might further damage the system, and I authorized them to do it. When it didn't work, they told me that I could pick up the laptop and, because they failed to fix it, there would be no charge of any kind. (I then replaced it with a new Japanese version of the Panasonic W5.)

I pass this information along in case readers ever need to fix an out-of-warranty laptop and are looking for a reliable service that won't gouge you. I realize they did not actually fix my unit, but they also did not take advantage of me by replacing the hard drive, still leaving me with a broken unit. Had the system board for a W2 not been so expensive, I am confident they would have completed the repair. And their pricing was very reasonable.

Make a note of Lapfix in case of emergency. I get nothing if you patronize them, but you may wish to let them know you heard about them on the Volokh Conspiracy.

In the comments, feel free to post links to other repair services you recommend to VC readers.