A repair quote always arrives without context. This works out what each extra year would cost you either way — repaired, or replaced — and says which way the arithmetic points.
The repair buys its years far more cheaply than a replacement would.
- If repaired
- 45 / year
- If replaced
- 300 / year
- Years the repair buys
- 2 years A repair returns the thing to service; it does not reset its age. This is what is left of a typical service life, capped by how long you said you want it.
- Years a new one buys
- 2 years A new one starts its life from zero, so it covers the whole stretch you asked for.
- What the numbers miss
- How much longer the maker will send security updates. A phone that has stopped getting them is a different decision from one with a tired battery.
This is arithmetic, not a recommendation about your particular device. It compares the cost of each year you would be buying, using a service life typical of the category rather than a measurement of your unit — a well-treated machine outlives it and an abused one does not. It cannot know whether the same fault is about to come back, what the maker still supports, or what the thing is worth to you. Use it to see the shape of the decision, then read a review of the exact model. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How the calculation works
Both sides of the comparison are the same sum: money divided by the years it buys.
- Repaired. The quote, divided by the years the repair can realistically buy. A repair returns a device to service; it does not reset its age. So the years available are whatever is left of a typical service life for that kind of thing — capped by how much longer you said you want it, and floored at one year, because a repair that buys less than a year is rarely worth arranging.
- Replaced. The price of the replacement you would actually buy, divided by the years you asked for — a new device starts from zero, so it covers the whole stretch.
If the repaired cost per year comes in at or below 70% of the replacement cost per year, the verdict is repair. At or above parity, it is replace. In between, the money is not deciding it and the tool says so rather than inventing confidence it does not have.
One extra rule overrides the ratio: a repair costing half the price of a new one, on a device already more than 60% of the way through a typical service life, comes out as replace. That is the classic bad bargain — you pay half of a new device to own most of an old one.
The service lives it assumes
These are the figures the tool uses for “a typical service life”, in years. They are the point by which most people have replaced one, not a failure date — a well-treated device outlives them, and an abused one does not.
- Phone — 5
- Laptop — 6
- Tablet — 6
- Desktop PC — 8
- Games console — 8
- Television — 9
- Wireless earbuds — 4
- Smartwatch — 4
If you think one of these is wrong for how you use a device, use the age field to say so: entering a device as older than it is has exactly the effect of shortening its assumed life.
What it cannot see
The arithmetic knows nothing about your particular device. It cannot tell whether the same fault is about to return, whether the maker still issues security updates, whether the part that failed is the one that always fails on that model, or what the thing is worth to you beyond money. Each device type carries a short note about the factor that most often overrides the sum — read it before acting on the verdict.
Currency does not matter. The verdict is a ratio between two numbers you supply, so as long as both are in the same money, the unit cancels out. Nothing you type is sent anywhere: the whole calculation runs in your browser.