I went through that with a Dell last year or the year before. I liked the laptop and had plenty of accessories, but didn't want to spend the $95 in labor for somebody to solder on a $5 jack. I bought another of the same model from their off lease site, swapped the hard drive, and it was as good as new for a few dollars more (and I got a second battery that way too).

With machines so inexpensive now, I wouldn't have somebody take it all apart and replace the jack. If I had to do it now, with all the netbook choices out there, I would most certainly go the netbook route for traveling.