The hand-me-down laptop very suddenly, between one session and another, exhibited the kinds of symptoms that nobody wants to see. Although I’ve always fooled around with the innards (and software) of desktops, I knew right away that this was beyond me, so it was off to PC Guru on South Lamar.

Only after the hand-over did I learn from the Chron Best-of-Austin issue sitting around unread since Thursday that Austinites voted PC Guru the best computer-repair shop.

Here’s what I liked: It’s open on Saturday, the rate structure was clearly explained, the estimate of what was likely to be involved was concise yet complete, additional information was sought when needed, and the equipment (and everything accompanying it) was returned just as it had been left, and soon. except that the laptop is now in working order. I like it that, instead of selling a replacement hard drive, PC Guru determined that the old one was still under warranty and took care of having it replaced expeditiously for free. I like it that, without my asking, the battery status under the second Dell recall notice was checked. I like it that all was restored, data and other stuff, pretty much as it had been. Thank you, PC Guru.