Broken Inspiron 7567: Upgrade, Repair or Replace?

I've got a Dell Inspiron 7567 Gaming laptop from a 2 or 3 years ago that has developed a critical problem: the battery won't charge. Thinking it would be as simple as replacing/re-soldering the DC jack I sent it off to be repaired. (Nobody local would touch it.) The tech has gotten back to me and informed me that the motherboard has to be replaced, and it's not cheap. For my model, the i5-7300HQ motherboard with 1050 Ti costs $350. Most 7567's with that spec seem to sell for $450 - $500, so that's not a great investment. Plus its not currently in stock.

What they do have in stock is the i7 model with a 1050 Ti. This one is more expensive obviously, at $450. However, the resale value on an i7 7567 seems to be about $750, making the higher end mobo a better value proposition than the i5 board. An i7 would also make the laptop more relevant for modern multicore gaming.

Should I pass on this 'opportunity', and just get the thing back and use it as a desktop? Or maybe sell it as such? Upgrade it to something actually useful? Or just forget the whole thing and get a budget Ryzen laptop for gaming?

Note: I do have another laptop, an Inspiron 7568. But it only has a 2GB GT 1030 (aka MX150) and as such can only play games with heavily scaled back settings.

 

The battery doesnt charge but the laptop still works?

Not sure how that translates to replacing the motherboard, normally you would at the battery first.

 

Battery works fine. Repair shop says that the problem is with the battery management chip on the motherboard, hence the mobo replacement.