Repair vs Replace Laptop Calculator: Cost Per Month 2026

Repair or replace? Compare the cost per month, not the price tag

The price tag is a trap: $299 for a repair against $1,199 for a new laptop looks like an easy win for the repair — until you remember the new laptop lasts longer. The honest comparison is the cost per month: repair cost per month = repair cost / remaining life after repair; new cost per month = new laptop price / new laptop life. On the defaults — a $299 repair, 18 months of life after it, a $1,199 new laptop, 48 months of life — the repair costs $299 / 18 = $16.61 a month, and the new laptop costs $1,199 / 48 = $24.98 a month. The difference is new − repair = $24.98 − $16.61 = $8.37 a month, and because it is positive, repair wins by $8.37 a month. This page is the laptop sibling of the site's repair vs replace phone calculator — the same cost-per-month model, a different device: a laptop repair is usually a screen, a battery, or a keyboard, and the new laptop is a four-year purchase, not a two-year one. The nearest pages are the phone comparison, the repair vs replace car calculator, and the buy new vs used car calculator — none of them covers a laptop, and none of them uses this laptop's numbers.

At the defaults — repair $299, remaining life 18 months, new laptop $1,199, new life 48 months — the repair costs $16.61 a month, the new laptop costs $24.98 a month, the difference is $8.37 a month in the repair's favour, and the winner is Repair wins. The break-evens are: repair cost $449.63 (exact $449.625), remaining life 11.97 months (exact 11.9700 mo), new price $797.33 (exact $797.3333). Check the identities: repair / remaining life = repair per month; new price / new life = new per month; break-even repair = new price × remaining life / new life; break-even life = repair × new life / new price; break-even price = repair × new life / remaining life. The winner is decided from the ROUNDED monthly costs: equal rounded costs are a tie, even when the unrounded costs differ by a fraction of a cent. The difference shown is the unrounded difference rounded to cents, so it can differ by a cent from the difference of the two rounded monthly costs — for example, at 36 months after repair with a 60-month new laptop, the rounded costs are $8.31 and $19.98 but the difference is $11.68, not $11.67.

The worked example, line by line

Setup: repair $299, remaining life 18 months, new laptop $1,199, new life 48 months.

Line 1 — the repair cost per month. $299 / 18 = $16.61.

Line 2 — the new laptop cost per month. $1,199 / 48 = $24.98.

Line 3 — the difference and the winner. $24.98 − $16.61 = $8.37; positive, so Repair wins.

Line 4 — the break-even repair cost. $1,199 × 18 / 48 = $449.625 → $449.63. A repair up to $449.63 is worth it.

Line 5 — the break-even remaining life. $299 × 48 / $1,199 = 11.9700 months → 11.97 months. The repair has to buy you at least a year.

Line 6 — the break-even new price. $299 × 48 / 18 = $797.3333 → $797.33. A new laptop at $797.33 or less ties the repair.

Reverse: the repair cost for a tie is $449.63 (exact $449.625); at $449.63 both sides are $24.98 a month — a tie to the cent (unrounded: repair $24.9794 vs new $24.9792). At $449.62 both sides are also $24.98 a month. The remaining life for a tie is 11.97 months (exact 11.9700 mo); at 11.97 months both sides are $24.98 a month — a tie to the cent. At 11.96 months the repair is $25.00 a month and Replace wins by $0.02. The new laptop price for a tie is $797.33 (exact $797.3333); at $797.33 both sides are $16.61 a month — a tie to the cent.

Every branch, checked

Repair $99: repair $5.50 a month, new $24.98; Repair wins by $19.48. A cheap repair is a bargain — the break-even repair cost is $449.63, and $99 is far under it.

Repair $499: repair $27.72 a month, new $24.98; Replace wins by $2.74 (FLIP). Two hundred dollars more on the repair flips the whole comparison — the repair is past the $449.63 break-even.

Repair $599: repair $33.28 a month, new $24.98; Replace wins by $8.30. An expensive repair is a new laptop in disguise.

New laptop $799: repair $16.61, new $16.65 a month; Repair wins by $0.03 (near-tie). A cheap new laptop nearly ties the repair — four cents a month separates them unrounded, three cents rounded.

New laptop $1,999: repair $16.61, new $41.65 a month; Repair wins by $25.03. An expensive new laptop makes the repair look very good.

6 months after repair: repair $49.83 a month, new $24.98; Replace wins by $24.85. If the repair only buys six months, do not repair it — the break-even life is 11.97 months.

36 months after repair: repair $8.31 a month, new $24.98; Repair wins by $16.67. Three more years from a $299 repair is the best deal on this page.

New laptop lasts 36 months: repair $16.61, new $33.31 a month; Repair wins by $16.69. A short-lived new laptop is a bad deal.

New laptop lasts 60 months: repair $16.61, new $19.98 a month; Repair wins by $3.37. Five years of new-laptop life closes most of the gap, but the repair still wins.

Reverse — the other way round: the repair cost for a tie is $449.63 (exact $449.625); the remaining life for a tie is 11.97 months (exact 11.9700 mo); the new laptop price for a tie is $797.33 (exact $797.3333).

What the defaults assume

The model assumes the repair cost is a one-off payment, the new laptop is a one-off purchase, and each option lasts exactly the months you enter — no second repair, no resale value, no warranty. It assumes the remaining life after repair is the honest number: ask the repair shop, and be honest about the battery and the age, because a laptop that dies again in six months costs $49.83 a month. It leaves out the data transfer, the setup time, the resale value of the old laptop, and whether the new laptop is faster — speed is not in the model, only money. With a $0 repair, the repair costs $0.00 a month and Repair wins by $24.98. With a $0 new laptop — a free laptop — the new laptop costs $0.00 a month, Replace wins by $16.61, and the break-even remaining life is undefined — the page shows “—”, not a number, because dividing by a $0 new price has no answer. With 36 months after repair and a 60-month new laptop, the repair is $8.31 a month and the new laptop is $19.98 a month; Repair wins by $11.68. With 0 months of remaining life the calculator shows an error, not $0, because a cost per month needs months to divide by. Rounding convention: totals are computed from unrounded values, so rounded parts may differ by a cent from their rounded sum; the reverses are nearest-cent solutions, and the exact unrounded figures ($449.625, 11.9700 mo, $797.3333) are stated wherever the rounded figures appear.

Output · formula · meaning

Who uses this

• The owner with a $299 repair quote: they learn the repair is $16.61 a month against $24.98 for a new $1,199 laptop — so they know the repair wins by $8.37 a month, and they check the break-even ($449.63) before the shop adds parts to the quote.
• The owner quoted $499 for the repair: they learn the repair is $27.72 a month and Replace wins by $2.74 — so they know the quote is past the break-even, and they check the $799 new-laptop branch (repair wins by $0.03) before buying the cheapest new machine.
• The owner whose laptop might only last six more months: they learn a six-month repair costs $49.83 a month and Replace wins by $24.85 — so they know the repair has to buy at least 11.97 months to be worth it, and they check the 36-month branch (repair wins by $16.67) before committing to the repair.
• The owner comparing a $1,999 flagship with a repair: they learn the flagship is $41.65 a month and Repair wins by $25.03 — so they know the expensive laptop is the worst deal on the page, and they check the tie price ($797.33) before deciding how cheap a new laptop has to be to win.

Accuracy & limitations

The math is exact for the numbers you enter: repair per month = repair cost / remaining life after repair; new per month = new laptop price / new laptop life; difference = new per month − repair per month (the unrounded difference, rounded to cents); break-even repair = new price × remaining life / new life; break-even life = repair × new life / new price; break-even price = repair × new life / remaining life. The winner is decided from the ROUNDED monthly costs: equal rounded costs are a tie. What the model cannot do is know how long the repair will really last: check the remaining life, because it decides the answer — at 6 months the repair loses by $24.85 a month, at 36 months it wins by $16.67. It assumes the repair is a one-off payment, the new laptop is a one-off purchase, and each option lasts exactly the months you enter. It leaves out the data transfer, the setup time, the resale value of the old laptop, and whether the new laptop is faster. It is a cost comparison, not a buying recommendation: for whether to buy the car instead, see the buy new vs used car calculator; for the phone version of the same model, see the repair vs replace phone calculator.