For many of us, working on laptops has become our second nature. But what happens when your laptop crashes? Well, that’s where you curse, cry, and run to your nearest laptop repair centre. Unfortunately, most people don’t know who to go to or whom to trust with their laptops. This is where Khalid’s Computer Solutions, the brainchild of Khalid Slamath aims to make a difference.
You’ve seen the rest, now talk to the best
Khalid’s path to where he is now is filled with twists and turns. He studied at Lyceum International School Nugegoda. While waiting for his A/L results, he began working as a laptop technician to bide time. He started his own operations in laptop repairs under the name of Dimension X Computer Technologies. Even so, most people who came to him knew him primarily as Khalid, rather than the CEO of Dimension X. He was also a computer hardware technician at Ahamed’s Trading.
The days of a young Khalid (image Credits: Khalid Slamath)
From there, Khalid joined Royal Mail Pvt Ltd as a Sales Executive. From there, he worked as a digitizer at Lanka Mountcastle Pvt LtdT. hat was followed by employment at Lanka Mountcastle Pvt Ltd where he worked as a digitizer. Another fork in the road saw Khalid employed at Delifrance as a Steward and Barman.
His next job was again another shift as he took up employment at Hayleys Consumer. During this period, Khalid also completed his higher education in Business Management and Business Administration, using the weekend to study.
Making a name for himself
While at Hayleys, Khalid received a double promotion to Showroom Manager, becoming the youngest one at the age of 22. From there, he received an offer from Richard Pieris & Distributors Ltd for the position of Head of Sales & Marketing for Electronics Division.
Following this, Khalid’s next opportunity came from PC House Pvt Ltd as the Head of Sales and Marketing. Unfortunately, due to poor ethics, Khalid soon left. He then joined Tektron Corporation as the Showroom Manager.
The early day of Khalid’s employed life (image Credits: Khalid Slamath)
Amidst all this, Khalid was still repairing laptops for clients. The clients were mostly his friends who told their friends and so on and so forth. There was no advertising or social media promotions. It was just word of mouth. This was the unofficial start of Khalid’s Computer Solutions.
Giving that VIP Treatment
Khalid soon entered the big leagues of high-end clientele after repairing the laptop of a high ranking member of the Maldivian High Commission. On her recommendation, a number of high-end clientele started approaching Khalid to repair their laptops.
From embassies to prominent members of parliament to other several high ranking professionals, Khalid became a go-to name in the field of laptop repairs. Everything for Khalid’s Computer Solutions was slowly falling into place.
He was doing all this during a time of turmoil in Sri Lanka due to the civil war. This meant that his high end clients were extremely wary about handing over their laptops to 3rd parties for repairs. This is because their devices contained highly sensitive information.
Once these clients who he now calls his “family” saw what he could do, they were thoroughly impressed with his talents and latched onto him. But while his clients paid him well, he wasn’t allowed to reach a wider customer base due to the sensitive nature of his work.
While still at Tektron, Khalid was in a meeting with the high commissioner of an embassy. It was here that Khalid received a big break. He got an offer to move to Fiji to work as Product Trainer at Courts Fiji Ltd, which is a retailer of Electrical, Furniture, Computers, Audio-Visual, Floor Coverings, Electronic Appliances, Sporting and Home appliances etc.
Khalid got an offer to move to Fiji to work as Product Trainer at Courts Fiji Ltd. Obviously, he took it. (Image Credits: Khalid Slamath)
While working, Khalid also studied at the Fiji National University. He graduated and began traveling around and lecturing at institutes across islands in the Pacific. He also studied for Yamaha and qualified as an Outboard Expert for Speed Boats and Jet Skis. His work with Courts Fiji also meant that he traveled quite a bit amongst the Pacific Islands.
Khalid also qualified as an Outboard Expert for Speed Boats and Jet Skis (Image Credits: Khalid Slamath)
Khalid recalls as I ask him about a person so well versed in the inner workings of a speedboat went on to repair laptops? “I studied it, mastered it and I followed my heart”, he replied.
Khalid worked at Courts Fiji for almost half a decade. Everything was going well. Then disaster struck.
Desperate times called for desperate measures
In 2013, Khalid’s father suffered a fatal heart attack. Khalid literally dropped everything and hopped on the earliest flight back to Sri Lanka. His company was eager to have him back in the Pacific Khalid had to choose. Would he take the job he loved, and forgo his family?
His employers at Courts Fiji even offered him a month of paid leave, eager to have him back. But Khalid had made his call. He would stay with his parents till the very end. It was a tough choice. “Family is everything,” Khalid says. He emphasized that just like his immediate family, his clients too were his family.
After a one-month break, Khalid approached his old clients, messaging them personally. His request was simple. He wanted to know if he could offer the same level of services he had previously, this time to the general public. They all gave him the green light, in light of the fact that the war was over and security was a lesser concern.
The Birth of a Dream
Having gotten the green light, Khalid set out to do something different. Upon talking to his clients and the general public, Khalid foud that the biggest concern was that the current market for laptop repairs was full of liars and cheats. Khalid wanted to be better. He wanted to be different.
“There may be many Khalid’s, but there will only be on Khalid who leaves behind a legacy”, he said. With these words etched into his mind, Khalid officially registered his company under the name of “Khalid’s Computer Solutions”.
The iconic nameboard outside Khalid’s Computer Solutions
With a company name, Khalid set up shop on the top floor of his parent’s house. This proved a wise decision as not only did he not have to pay for rent, but he was also close to his family in case of an emergency.
From here, He embraced social media and set up a Facebook page. He was very open and posted images of the laptops that came to him from clients. Most of these had horrible encounters with laptop repair centers. Through word of mouth, these people were made aware of Khalid’s Computer Solutions.
The climb to Khalid’s workshop is indeed a memorable one
As with anything in Sri Lanka, no good deed goes unpunished. Khalid’s work attracted the attention of a host of people. Some of them were not fans of his work either. Criticism, threats and even racist comments were hurled at Khalid. He stood tall, unfazed and met them head on.
“I’m just going to go on my journey. I’m not going to stop. Life is too short to worry about the haters. I just want to do my best”, he said stoutly.. He also got comments about why he was ‘exposing’ the way he does his work. His reply was simple, “I like what I do. I like to expose the truth”.
A day at Khalid’s Computer Solutions
Walking into Khalid’s Computer Solutions, my first impression was that this is just another laptop repair centre. However, it was Khalid’s attitude that put my mind at ease. From the cheerful face of Khalid to the staggering number of laptops that crowd almost every inch of the shop, my immediate thought is that this guy knows what he’s doing.
Despite the cramped space inside Khalid’s Computer Solutions, Khalid’s actual workspace is quite well organized. Tools such as precision screwdrivers, a hairdryer, headlamps, and tubes of thermal paste surround his table.
Regardless of this seemingly cluttered chaotic workspace, every place has a thing and everything has a place. Khalid attends to each and every laptop personally. Having no other employees to attend to the vast backlog also means that he is literally up to his neck in laptops.
A well-stocked toolkit ensure that Khalid has everything he needs to get your laptop back in tip-top shape.
He looks at the daunting task with a smile on his face. “Every laptop tells me a story. I just have to listen to that story”, he went on to explain. Where most places would take the laptop behind closed doors and open it up, Khalid does all repairs right in front of the customer. This enables a greater transparency (literally, because the counters are all glass panels) between himself and the client, Khalid says.
A general repair or servicing of a laptop given to Khalid’s Computer Solutions takes around 45 minutes to one hour. If the laptop needs further repairs or services, those will obviously take more time. Even so, Khalid attends to them personally as well.
Staying on top of things
“I work on a very strict deadline”, Khalid explained. “If a laptop is due to be repaired in 5 days, I will make sure it’s repaired by the 5th day and have it ready for pick up”. Khalid’s experience with handling laptops is indeed a boon for him. He is literally able to identify the type and model of each screw that goes into a particular laptop model off the top of his head.
In addition to his regular servicing methods, which are quite fast, Khalid’s Computer Solutions was the first in Sri Lanka to introduce a chemical wash for laptops. In case you didn’t know what that means, a chemical wash literally washing all the components of a laptop in a mixture of chemicals.
According to Khalid, the magical concoction that he calls his “magic potion” took quite a while to be perfected. Once he had got the ratio just right, the results were indeed magical. He tried the concoction on his own laptop and was thrilled to see the laptop working like brand new.
This is no placebo effect, Khalid explained. While many people are horrified at the prospect of dropping liquids, let alone chemicals on their laptops, Khalid says without an absolute shred of a doubt that any laptop was given to him that undergoes a service and chemical wash will work better than ever.
Why? Well, there are several reasons. The primary one being that the chemicals react to the circuitry and components of the laptop, and are cleaned thoroughly of gunk, oxidation and general dirt. The result is the performance and feeling similar to that of a brand new laptop.
Some of the horrors that Khalid has to go through
Khalid is no stranger to some of the predicaments that people get their laptops in to. On average, Khalid services about 8-9 laptops per day. When servicing laptops, he has found everything from dust to cobwebs, fingernails, cockroaches, ants, and even puke after one client got a little bit too tipsy.
The scenario is such that Khalid is rarely afraid to see just how much abuse a laptop can go through now. To prove his point, Khalid photologs all laptops serviced and then posts them on his Facebook page (with the consent of the client) so that the general public can see how he handles these client requests.
Roaches? Yes, These are actual, dead cockroaches inside laptops. (Image Credits: Facebook)
Khalid emphasizes that unless you know your way around the insides of a laptop, you should definitely NOT try taking your laptop apart at home.
Our experience with Khalid
My colleague Mazin was having trouble with his laptop, so we decided to drop by Khalid’s Computer Solutions and see Khalid himself in action. Mazin’s laptop, a Dell 3521 had not been serviced ever since it was purchased almost 5 years ago.
Khalid’s first course of action was to take the laptop and press his nose against the ventilation grills. Sniffing it, he deduced that Mazin spent a lot of time on his laptop, living near the roadside. He also deduced that Mazin ate his meals while on the laptop.
Khalid sniffing around Mazin’s laptop to see what the problem was
Grabbing his trusty screwdriver, Khalid wasted no time. In fact, in a little under 5 minutes and 40 seconds, Mazin’s laptop was completely taken apart. From there, Khalid proceeded to show us all the dust, gunk and other icky stuff that had collected around the motherboard, vents and even on the keyboard of the laptop.
In a little under 5 minutes, Mazin’s laptop was completely taken apart
Having taken everything apart, Khalid retreated to the chemical room behind the main work area. Here, he washed the housing of the laptop along with the heat pipes, ventilation fans, and even the motherboard. Did it work? Well, the picture below should answer your question.
Clean fans are the first step in having a cool laptop
Having cleaned everything, Khalid was now ready to put things back together again. Using meticulous precision and care, he deftly put Mazin’s laptop back together and even glued back a piece that had broken off the main body. Once everything was put in place, Khalid made use of a microfiber cloth to clean the keyboard and display of the laptop. If you weren’t there to see it, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. In a little under an hour and a half, Mazin’s laptop was taken apart, given a thorough clean up with a chemical wash, and put back together.
Putting everything together and giving the laptop a good wipedown for good measure.
After booting the laptop, we eagerly looked at the display to see if everything was spic and span. Barring a small technical difficulty which according to Khalid is a glitch in that particular laptop lineup, the laptop came to life with the Dell logo and accompanying Windows 10 logo showing up.
Mazin’s laptop was barely recognizable from a brand new laptop after Khalid was through with it
We were immediately flabbergasted to find that the boot times indeed had dramatically reduced. What usually took at least a minute to go from boot screen to login screen now took less than 30 seconds. While we stood, open-mouthed, Khalid just grinned and said. “Is that fast enough for you?”
The road so far to Khalid’s Computer Solutions
Since it was set up in 2013, Khalid’s Computer Solutions has grown quite a lot. This is evident by the sheer number of laptops that you see as soon as you walk into the store. “Most of the time all my appointments are always fully booked so there’s always a queue in line waiting”. He has plans of expanding the business, but right now, he’s taking this a bit on the slower side. He’s also focusing on his family life and taking care of his parents as well.
While not being a DJ, Khalid also does handle the laptops of all the top DJs in Sri Lanka as well. His current portfolio of clients ranges from Diplomats, Directors, Chairmen, Judges, Lawyers, Advocates, Doctors, Ministers, and even certain high profile military personnel as well. All of these are not just clients, Khalid says, but they are his family. “Like I always say, ‘coming to Khalid’s is coming to family!”.
DJ Placebo and DJ Dirty DZN, two popular DJs in Sri Lanka after getting their laptops serviced from (DJ) Khalid
In addition to operations in Sri Lanka, Khalid also opened up a branch of Khalid’s Computer Solutions in Bangkok as well. Upon signing up with a major blue chip IT Store in Bangkok, Khalid proudly exclaimed that he got Khalid’s Computer Solutions registered there as well. “It was not easy but I achieved it and I’m very proud about taking my name internationally.”
Laptops that need a look at are taken on a pre-booking basis, much like an appointment with a doctor. Once a date has been given, Khalid would fly to Bangkok and see to the laptop/s and then fly back to Sri Lanka. All this “under my name ‘Khalid’s’, he says proudly.
One man’s dream to do as much good as he can
One of Khalid’s biggest challenges is to balance out his work time with his family time. “I have no time for competition”, he says. He takes a more laid-back approach to what he does.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about maintaining a family. It’s about Love, honesty and respect”.
“In this world full of dishonesty, there is still some honesty in the world”, Khalid says. He emphasizes that people will try to lie and cheat you. When it comes to laptops Khalid makes it a point to spread the awareness of using original components sourced from the original manufacturer themselves. His logic is sound.
If you’re going to spend a lot on a laptop, you need to make sure that you’re spending it on a laptop with original components. As such, Khalid also handles the sale of Laptops as well. These are sourced directly from the manufacturers in Thailand with no local agent involvement whatsoever.
In addition to servicing laptops, Khalid also sells laptops sourced directly from the Manufacturers in Thailand
Not doing so would not only shorten the lifespan of the device but also end up being a financial burden. As such, Khalid gets all his components from Thailand. He also maintains an inventory of the most common components a laptop would need according to their model. If a part is not in stick, Khalid needs only a few days to get the part back in stock. With regard to comparing how he works as opposed to how other laptop technicians work, Khalid’s views are simple. “If we can’t fix it, nobody can”.
Where most in the tech industry focus on startups that build apps or devices, people such as Khalid show us the true meaning of entrepreneurship. They identify a problem in the community and solve it. Rather than having a large number of employees and a staggering workforce, Khalid’s Computer Solutions is just one man, doing what he loves. A man who looks at all the dishonesty and cheating going on in the world, and tells himself “I will be better. I will leave behind a legacy”.
With a smile on his face, Khalid is ever-ready to face any and all challenges.
Rather than focus on innovative new features and all that jazz, he just does a service to people that are in great demand, but not really thought about a lot. The key difference is that he just does it better. In the end, there is a clear difference in someone putting their heart and soul into doing what they love, and someone just doing something to make a quick buck.
As we prepare to head out of Khalid’s Computer Solutions, Khalid gets a call. Despite the tiredness etched in his face, he answers the call with the same enthusiasm he has with all other calls. A customer has come to pick up his laptop. We hang back just long enough to see the happiness on the customer’s face. It is proof enough that Khalid not only does what he does because he loves what he does. It’s also proof family is everything. After all, “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind”.
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