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DILEMMA! Repair or Buy New, Any Advice plz??

J

jorisaerts1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 27, 2009
18
0
Hi everyone,

I've got a macbook pro 17 inch, june 2008, last not-unibody generation.

a week ago, my motherboard got fried overnight, without any reason i know of.

What should i do, Repair of Buy New????

-Repair is going to cost me 671€, i don't have apple care or waranty,so the cost is all mine.

-The new one i would buy would be the same model, this generation, so 17 inch
that would cost me 2200€

The thing is, i don't know why my motherboard got fried, so i'm unsure about the cause of this malfunction and so i'm afraid that just replacing the part may not resolve an intern problem. and maybe it will break down again within the month and i don't think there's a separate waranty on new parts.

It's purely a hardware-dilemma, Time machine got my back. My files and programs are now running on my fathers imac as a new user.

What would you do? what should i do? What are the arguments pro/con?


Cheers

Joris
 
If you have the money, buy new and get the AppleCare. Laptops take a lot of abuse and should be protected. If money is tight you can replace the motherboard. They should do diagnostics on the computer to see if anything else is wrong. And find out about the warranty on the repair as this msy ease your mind a bit about this option.
 
just called the repair guy,

it's a 90 days repair-warranty on the motherboard
money is not a big problem but still a lot of money.

i will get applecare on my next macbook if i buy new one.

I'm having problems with analyzing the risk-factor of the old one goin down again versus the difference in cost 1500€

i don't know :s
 
What do you mean by fried? Does it boot up with a blank display?

That model has the 8600m gt card in it, the card has a higher than normal defective rate and apple will repair it out of warranty if it's the gpu that has failed. Go to an apple store and have them test it at the genius bar.

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

What to look for:

Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen
No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on
Specific products affected:

MacBook Pro 15-inch and 17-inch models with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors
MacBook Pro (17-Inch, 2.4GHz)
MacBook Pro (15-Inch, 2.4/2.2GHz)
MacBook Pro (Early 2008)
These computers were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008
Click to expand...
 
thanks orangepeel,

useful information,

my macbook didn't give anything on the screen,
it just made a sound in the cd drive for 3 sec and then nothing

so i think it's the motherboard and not the gpu unit, unless these are the same fysical object, if that is true i will be very happy if they fix it for free!!
 
jorisaerts1 said:
Hi everyone,

I've got a macbook pro 17 inch, june 2008, last not-unibody generation.

a week ago, my motherboard got fried overnight, without any reason i know of.
Click to expand...

dude the exact same thing happened to me, same model and everything. turned off one day, and couldn't do anything with it form that point on.

I went ahead and bought a new one as a repair would be only $200 less then buying a new one, which of course had a lot better specs (signature).

a couple weeks later my dad went to the US and brought it along with him and had it repaired. turned out they have a $300 flat rate fee for replacing motherboards.

so my recommendation is, if you go to the US a lot or know someone who does, have them take it along. The stores can usually repair it over night.

if you dont, well just buy a new one..
 
hi mulo, thanks for the reply

i'll keep your advice in mind,


if i don't repair him and i will buy a new one

but there's a chance i'm going to US next summer,
so a fixed old macbook pro would be a nice souvenir for just 300 $

The majority of my friends on facebook are saying that i should buy a new one.
but my dilemma still isn't resolved.
 
Mulo,
are you sure about this?
or can anyone else confirm this?
a friend of mine is going to US in two weeks.

I would love a motherboard repair for 300$


mulo said:
turned out they have a $300 flat rate fee for replacing motherboards.

so my recommendation is, if you go to the US a lot or know someone who does, have them take it along. The stores can usually repair it over night.
Click to expand...
 
jorisaerts1 said:
Thanks,
already did, but i'm afraid it's not the same problem.

but i have a question on the matter,

If my repair guy says its the motherboard, could it also be NVIDIAs GPU?
are these things connected?
Click to expand...

Right now it sounds like you're just guessing the cause of the issue.

Unless it's a huge hassle - take it to the genius bar and tell them your GPU is fried. At least then you'll have a shot at getting it repaired under the extended warranty.

All else is conjecture until you've had Apple (or Apple repair shop) take a look at it.
 
srexy said:
Right now it sounds like you're just guessing the cause of the issue.

Unless it's a huge hassle - take it to the genius bar and tell them your GPU is fried. At least then you'll have a shot at getting it repaired under the extended warranty.

All else is conjecture until you've had Apple (or Apple repair shop) take a look at it.
Click to expand...

I'm not guessing, i know the motherboard is broken,

Right now, my question is: is the GPU of the nvdia 8600 gt located on the motherboard. if this is true, i could get it repaired for free. But this won't be the case, i think.
 
jorisaerts1 said:
I'm not guessing, i know the motherboard is broken,

Right now, my question is: is the GPU of the nvdia 8600 gt located on the motherboard. if this is true, i could get it repaired for free. But this won't be the case, i think.
Click to expand...

Yes, the logic board contains the GPU and the CPU.
 
Don't lie ;) the flat rate repair is actually 310 :p he is right. I just had mine repaired. That's what it would have been without Apple care.
 
i'd say go get a new computer and sell your old one on ebay/craigslist with a reasonable price and explanation. some people might want to strip the computer apart and take what's left.
 
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