Does Apple offer a mail in repair service? I thought they did, but can't find anything on their site. This is my second MBP in 4 years to have problems, and unfortunately this one is 2.5 years old and unlike the first one to go bad, it's past the extended warranty period offered by my credit card.
So without Apple Care, Amex extended warranty, or the original warranty, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to pay to fix or replace my Mid 2012 rMBP. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I can get an Apple Genius bar appointment tomorrow, and it's not likely I can get to one during the week as the closest is a 2 hour drive from me.
My problem presents as a GPU Panic/shutdown when I launch a game. It also likes to lockup/black screen/shutdown when I run the Apple Diagnostic tools test (holding D when starting up). Now it seems like the fans are stuck on high for no reason.
After a lot of searching regarding my problem, it seems pretty likely that my logic board needs to be replaced. Based on anecdotal evidence from Apple Support forums, it sounds like most people have this done for about $310 by taking it to a Genius Bar and having them "ship it to Texas". Is there any way I can circumvent having to drive 4 hours (twice, once to drop off, once to pick up) round trip to a Genius Bar during the week by shipping it directly to an Apple repair center for diagnosis, repair estimate, and repair?
Would a local "authorized repair center" be able to do it for me without having to visit an Apple store location?
Is the cost estimate for a logic board replacement of $310 reasonable or am I likely to find it to be much, much higher? At that price, I could deal with it, much more and I'm probably going to stop throwing good money after poor quality, but premium priced Apple products. I don't see myself spending $3k on another machine after the previous two died of hardware problems between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age.
So without Apple Care, Amex extended warranty, or the original warranty, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to pay to fix or replace my Mid 2012 rMBP. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I can get an Apple Genius bar appointment tomorrow, and it's not likely I can get to one during the week as the closest is a 2 hour drive from me.
My problem presents as a GPU Panic/shutdown when I launch a game. It also likes to lockup/black screen/shutdown when I run the Apple Diagnostic tools test (holding D when starting up). Now it seems like the fans are stuck on high for no reason.
After a lot of searching regarding my problem, it seems pretty likely that my logic board needs to be replaced. Based on anecdotal evidence from Apple Support forums, it sounds like most people have this done for about $310 by taking it to a Genius Bar and having them "ship it to Texas". Is there any way I can circumvent having to drive 4 hours (twice, once to drop off, once to pick up) round trip to a Genius Bar during the week by shipping it directly to an Apple repair center for diagnosis, repair estimate, and repair?
Would a local "authorized repair center" be able to do it for me without having to visit an Apple store location?
Is the cost estimate for a logic board replacement of $310 reasonable or am I likely to find it to be much, much higher? At that price, I could deal with it, much more and I'm probably going to stop throwing good money after poor quality, but premium priced Apple products. I don't see myself spending $3k on another machine after the previous two died of hardware problems between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age.
