How to go about getting screen replacement - out of warranty

Question

Hi,
My T61p is out of warranty, and the LCD had begun displaying white pressure marks and is generally alot dimmer. Whilst i'm comfortable using computers, i'm not comfortable replacing hardware parts myself. How would i go about getting the LCD replaced and possibly upgraded from WXGA to WSXGA+? Can this be done through Lenovo, or would i be better off looking for a third party company to do this for me? If it can be done through Lenovo (which tbh i would prefer), how would i go about arranging this?
Thanks in advance for any replies

Answer 1

As for Lenovo not advertising, not making it easy to get post-warranty / out-of-warranty repairs, this mostly boils down to a cost to return value issue.
For every possible failure of any possible hardware-combination, you'd need at least one (bare minimum, say more likely 4-5) at every repair shop who stocks their own replacement parts, and at least twice as many at any central hub supplying said repair shops. This costs money, and as the hardware gets older, less and less demand is being put forth for work done on said hardware - hence the replacement parts take up valuable shelfspace, and is considered a too high cost vs. value.
This is the same for any type of product, really. If you buy a washing machine, it'll get harder to get parts for it after 5 years than after 2-3 - simply because maybe the only place that still has the parts is the main facility, or maybe the parts aren't even produced yet.
It's also based on a life-expectancy of the equipment - computer equipment, while more than able to function beyond 5 years of use, have a limited value after short time, simply because the development of new, more powerful parts continue. A top-of-the-line computer from 3 years ago will be surpassed by a medium to low-end machine today, for half the cost, or even less.
Hence, you get third-party service centers, eBay, etc. which can help you if your old machine have a problem - it's usually not that hard to get hold of Lenovo-parts, simply because they tend to keep design over more than one model-specter, and they sell a LOT of each model, mainly to business clients, which tend to exchange their hardware on 3-5 year cycle, depending.
I don't really think it's uncommon to see manufacturers not supporting, or providing repair options after the models' shelf-life has been terminated, and mainly all warranty-services are off. This is the same for HP, Dell, Lenovo, Apple etc. Of course they CAN repair it, for a steep fee, but it's most often not worth the cost, and very few people pay it - instead opting for doing it themselves, or having a local PC repair-shop do it.
At least, both Lenovo and to some degree HP have very good manuals available, including a full tear-down of the hardware.
IT-technician, running my own company in Bergen, Norway
Thinkpad T61, 8895CTO C2D 2Ghz/4GB/120GB SSD/1400x1050