adrian_turtle

About 10 days ago, I broke part of my laptop keyboard (the key beside the 'b', that I mostly try to avoid.) I broke the metal part where the plastic key retai-er is supposed to attach, so the whole keyboard has to be replaced. The guy at the local repair shop told me it was ok to just type with the stump. I did that for a few days, but it became more & more difficult, requiri-g more direct & harder impact. It hurt my wrists, & imflammatio' of my right wrist is bad for my thumb problems. So I type less, & try to avoid the problem letter, & push the key with a tool if I really have to. I hesitate to go get am external keyboard because it makes it harder to reach the touchpad, & because I'll use it such a short time it feels like a waste to pay for any but the cheapest model (ie, probable ergonomic disaster.)

Friday, I called the repair shop to order a replacement keyboard (1 that attaches to the laptop & works just like the original did before I broke it.) They said they'd call with a price estimate for the part, & I could order it over the phone. Sure. Great. Please hurry. No call Saturday. No call yesterday am. So yesterday pm, I called the shop to hurry matters a bit. The guy said most replacement keyboards cost $50-60, but the first possibilities he'd found for my (Sony) laptop cost "in the hundreds." He thought this was too much, so he is looking for a better price. He could not seem to understand my questions about whether "in the hundreds" means $100-110 or $200-300. He just repeated the phrase as if there was no ambiguity about it. I hope he understood me when I said I need to replace this keyboard quickly.