Providence and the Dell Laptop hinge

[Eoghan]

I was just about to view the Dell Thursday special offers and was looking at Dell on Amazon (and Sony if I am honest) and due to the weird way Amazon works was also looking at replacement lids for my laptop. I noticed that they had friction hinges sold with them. This intrigued me so I decided to have a peek and see if mine was replaceable. Anyway the upshot is that I exposed both hinges and realised that the friction hinges were metal and that the lid and trim are not strong enough to act as hinges. The real hinges are obscured by their plastic covers. The metal hinge under it had popped out, rotated and was preventing the plastic trim from covering it tightly. Anyway I rotated the hinge into the correct plane. Found the screw to hold it in place and the screen is now properly hinged. Yes the plastic trim has been cracked at the back but with the hinge properly orientated and screwed into place it doesn't matter, the lid and trim sandwich it into place. Result!

I am really pleased that I have providentially not committed myself to a new laptop! I can avoid Windows 8 for a while longer!

Thanks to all those who offered advice.