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Xl1200r
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 10:39 am: | 
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I'm stuck at a crossroads right now. I think my first step is going to be to take it to the apple store (or a local place if someone can suggest one, but as of yet I've not found one) and see what they say is wrong with it. Like I said, it's out of warranty and they'll be able to tell it was a water spill pretty easy based on how much was spilled in there.
If the repair is less than $500, I'll just do it. If it's more, I have options:
1) There are places that can repair the logic board, clean all the crud off of it, etc for a couple hundred dollars.
2) I can buy a used but working replacement and save some over new, and then part out mine and make up some of the cost. |
Crackhead
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 11:05 am: |
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3) but a real Laptop |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 11:23 am: |
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3) but a real Laptop
I was unaware what I had was fake.
There is a MILD price premium for an Apple computer. Trust me, I did the research. To build a comperable Dell with similar software and similar grade hardware, would been within $200.
The main reason I bought a Mac was to see if, after owning it for 5 years, it would turn into a useless hunk of slower-than-dirt electronic crap like every single one of my PCs has done (water intrusion aside, lol). |
Doon
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 11:42 am: |
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Xl1200r. There used to be castle computers over on RT7 that did Mac repair, but they are no longer around. Replacing the logic board is a PITA, but not too, too bad. Just takes patience (Well and small fingers). Need to find which model logic board you have, find out what a replacement costs and weather or not the price differential is worth attempting it yourself (I can help if you need, as I've taken apart lots of laptops before.. and most of the them still work). Else those mac book airs are looking pretty sexy  ... |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 11:58 am: |
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Doon - I read the step by step on it, and aside from screws and prying off some connectors, it looks pretty straight forward. I may look for your help if it comes to that, though. I'm wondering if Apple would sell me the logic board just as a part?
There is a computer repair place in Troy, forget the name, that claims to do Macs so I may give them a call as well.
I THINK the logic board I need for mine is this one;
http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Pro-13 -Inch-Unibody-2-26-GHz-Logic-Board/IF163-004
Pretty steep at $650 (and used, at that), and it doesn't have the RAM chips which could be toast in mine.
The Air looks nice, for sure, just not sure if it will be everything I need in a computer. I do have an extrernal drive (thankfully I backed mine up the day before the mishap), but having to plug that in to do anything with my photos or music might be a drag. |
Firebolt020283
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 12:21 pm: |
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I like the looks of those new macbook airs but I am not sure I could see jumping the gun on a computer that is $600 more than its compeditors. Now if they dropped the price down a bit I would be all over it. But they did do to the mackbook air what they should have done in the first place finally. But I am a huge fan of Mac computers and I would not trade my 27" quad core imac for any other computer (well maybe a supped up mac pro but thats more than I can afford) |
Firebolt020283
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 12:38 pm: |
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If I ever did get one though I would have to put winblows on it so I could use it for ecm spy. |
Doon
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 01:31 pm: |
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Yeah I don't know if apple will sell you just a logic board, but as it is most of the computer I would expect for it to be pricey. Well I priced out the air I want and it is like $2k by th the time I get done. I might make work get me one as for what I normally do on my computer it should be fine (I normally just have an editor and the web browser/mail up). BUt let me know how you make out. Yep just lots of little screws and some cables and the like. Hardest part is not breaking anything or marring the case up real bad... |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 04:13 pm: |
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Well, I called a couple local computer places... some didn't answer the phone, some didn't sound "pleasing" when I talked to them, but one from right down the street seems good.
He says a lot of times you can get in there and just clean up the corrosion and be okay - he quoted $75-95 to do that. If it need components, then those are as needed, and if I decide it's not worth fixing he only charges a $65 diagnosis fee and I can take it back.
I think I'll drop it off tonight and cross my fingers. |
Tpoppa
| | Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 04:47 pm: |
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Sounds like the stator is fried  |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 02, 2010 - 10:46 am: |
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Sounds like the stator is fried
 |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 05:33 pm: |
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Well, the clean job resulted in finding multiple shorts on the logic board and it would need to be replaced.
I took it to Apple, crossing my fingers they might feel real nice for some reason, but the guy told me it would cost more to fix than a new computer would be. Considered an Air, but settled on replacing with a new base-model 13" pro. Specs are up from my old one - processor is 2.4 GHz (up from 2.26GHz), RAM is at 4GB (up from 2GB), battery life is at 10 hours (up from 7) and the hard drive is at 250GB (up from 160GB). Plus iLife '11 which comes with some nice upgrades that I'll be making use of.
I also picked up a nice rubber keyboard cover in case this happens again, lol.
So now, my question is: Is my old computer worth more whole or in pieces? |
Froggy
| | Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 05:41 pm: |
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quote:So now, my question is: Is my old computer worth more whole or in pieces?
Hard to say, Ebay is crazy at times. Remove the hard drive and sell it "for parts, as is". Assuming the screen and body are in great shape, it will easily be snapped up.
Odds are your old hard drive is still good, you can use it in an USB enclosure so you can still access your data, and it would make another great backup source. |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 05:49 pm: |
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Froggy - a water damaged pro like mine just sold for over $500.
What's the deal on the USB enclosure for the hard drive? I wouldn't mind another backup source... |
Froggy
| | Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 07:51 pm: |
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Buy an enclosure like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8 2E16817816001
(Try using coupon code EMCZZYR25 at the checkout, I can't confirm if it works on enclosures as I used it on something else today)
Now I am making assumptions giving my lack of Mac expertise, but it should be a normal SATA hard drive in your laptop. Remove it and drop it in this case, and when you plug the USB cable into your new laptop it should automatically detect it and you should have instant access to your files. |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010 - 09:25 pm: |
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It is a SATA drive, just not sure of the size, but I'd assume 2.5".
Thankfully, even if it's shot, the data was already backed up the day before the crash.
Maybe I'll grab two enclosures - I've got my old ThinkPad that's not doing anything... Interesting thought, can I keep all my old windows stuff on my old hard drive and boot from that drive and run it on my Mac? I don't think it should be any different than partitioning... |
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