Logic Board replacement early-2008 MBP - worth it?

Hi - I've managed to fry my early-2008 15" 2.53Ghz Macbook Pro (see here, this led to this - don't try this at home kids!) and the logic board needs replacing (according to a certified Apple Engineer who I know and trust).

I've been quoted just under £500 (about $790) to repair this - would include a new or Apple-refurbished logic board and labour charges for fitting (and VAT i.e. UK sales tax). This is actually quite reasonable compared to some other quotes I've seen.

I've had a quick look on eBay and £500 is about what a used early-2008 Macbook pro would cost, although mine is the slightly better (and rarer) 2.53Ghz model with 512Mb graphics RAM (instead of the 2.4 Ghz / 256Mb graphics RAM model). As far as I know the 200Gb 7200rpm hard drive it came with is still okay (though I also recently bought a 256Gb Crucial M4 SSD I was about to replace it with, until this little "accident"...).

I'm wondering whether its worth going ahead with the repair or not, what do you all think?

Other than the fried logic board, my Macbook Pro was in generally good repair (although the battery was probably on the way out, as I was getting the "Service Battery" warning after 370 cycles - that would be abother £90 to replace, though I was still getting 2+ hours charge out of it, which is fairly normal for this model), and cosmetically there is very little wear on the case (a few minor scratches on underside only).

Before my MBP died, I was going to give it to my wife in 2012 (after upgrading it to the SSD) and buy the new 2012 Macbook Pro model when it comes out. She has an old PC laptop that will probably only last another 6 months. I didn't really want to buy the current model Macbook Pro (even though its probably due a CPU "speedbump" upgrade soon) as thought it best to wait for the redesign, but if I don't repair my current machine, this may be what I will need to do...

I guess another option would be to buy a decent used or refurbished Unibody Core 2 Duo 15" MBP, as this would have a faster system bus (1066Ghz vs 800Ghz) and RAM (1066Ghz vs 667Ghz) and slightly better graphics (GeForce 9600M or better vs 8600M), but be cheaper than an i7 MBP. I'd also be able to make better use of my SSD, as these models have SATA II at 3Gb/s instead of the 1.5Gb/s on my current MBP.

BTW there any 2008-2010 unibody models to avoid? Any other things to look out for? Thanks

I could then give this to my wife when the new design 2012 model MBP comes out, if I did want to get the "latest and greatest" then.

Does this sound like a sensible alternative? The only issue, I guess, is that when buying secondhand, you don't necessarily know of any issues that might be wrong with the machine you're buying, when I guess at least I know what's wrong with mine...

djhyro said:

if it were me i would just put the $$ toward a new mbp or mba..

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Its still tempting, though it would have to be a 15" MBP, as need the graphics power... Maybe I should wait a few weeks to see what the "refreshed" / speedbumped MBP line-up looks like (assuming this happens...)

also, have you tried searching ebay for the just the logic board? you can probably save $$ doing the repair yourself, if you're comfortable with it.. ifixit makes it pretty easy

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Yes, I've seen the iFixit Guide, but it looks like quite a complicated job (and no gurantees that I won't fry something assembling it...) and as far as I can tell a new or refurbished logic board would be about £375, so I wouldn't necessarily be saving much, though a used board might be cheaper.

GermanyChris said:

I think the graphic power of the integrated in the 2011 MBPs will be better than anything listed except 2011 15"..

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Really? The Nvidia 8600M GT in my old MBP was capable of good performance in most recent 3D games, am not sure that this is true of the integrated graphics in the 2011 MBPs...

GermanyChris said:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1135238/

your graphics card while good is "old" many generations old..

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Thanks, useful links! According to the Mobile Graphics Benchmarks, though, the NVIDIA 8600M GT still scores a higher position (153) than the Intel HD Graphics 3000 (208) integrated graphics found on 2011 MBPs,something which the second link provided confirms (so no 13" MBP for me...)

Obviously the 8600M GT is behind the AMD graphics in the new 15" MBPs - though the Radeon 6490M is rated at position 149, which isn't that much better than the NVIDIA 8600, the Radeon 6750M is rated at position 79 and looks heaps better, however

GermanyChris said:

From reading the link you can make your own assessment. I wouldn't preserve the computer just for that graphics card if you have no emotional attachment to the computer...If it's your old friend then ebay the boat and go to work.

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I have no emotional attachement to it, am just wondering if its *worth* trying to get it repaired or not. Apart from the dead logic board (if that really is the problem), of course, it looks in much better condition than many of that era that I've seen for sale on eBay.