I need your help...

[digitdean]

My mom's iBook G3 800 was recently the victim of a spill, incapacitating the battery, and rendering the track pad quite sticky, and only getting worse. Since it was a spill, neither of these are under warranty.

Now, the guy fixing it quoted $130 for battery, $130 for top segment of the case (w/ trackpad), and 1.5 hours of labor, for a total around $400.

What I want to know is where I can find a cheap battery and case, as well as whether a repair like this (replacing top case) would really take 1.5 hours.

[crazzyeddie]

$130 for the battery is Apple's price ($129). I'm also going to assume thats the correct amount for the top part of the case from Apple. 1.5 hours sounds about right for total labor, including taking it apart (very tedious for an iBook, any laptop really) and putting it back together. $400 sounds just about right.

[FlamDrag]

I'd expect taking apart a notebook, cleaning it and putting it back together to take at least an hour and a half. All sounds reasonable.

The real question is: Can you replace the iBook for less?

Batteries:

http://www.applelaptopbattery.com/?CMP=KNC-goog18