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Good and bad parts suppliers.

l.a.rossmann

l.a.rossmann

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 15, 2009
1,097
372
Brooklyn
I am not sure if this is the right section.

I like giving away free information based on my experiences. I wish more people did it so I wouldn't have to buy laptop parts from bad suppliers.

I know people like t fix things themselves. What I would like to do here is have a list of good suppliers for certain parts where the end user can buy parts for their Macbook one at a time, and a list of ones to avoid, with the reasons why. My experiences will be devoid of bias, personal remarks, and stick to places where I have had the unfortunate experience of doing repeat business.

I will update this list over time, and I encourage others to chime in. there are many suppliers I have used not listed here since I don't have all the names and information ready off hand.

I am only listing suppliers of use to people looking to buy one part, not places that specialize in quantities of 50+, as that is useless to joe-blow looking to fix his out of warranty laptop.

The hall of fame:

sunvalleytek/sunvalleyus/smartlaptopparts(on ebay)

They have occasionally sent out the incorrect screen, when they did, they paid for return shipping. They offer amazing prices, and a great RMA process

screenaid(on ebay)

see sunvalleyus. They are also great for local pickup in NYC. Unlike sunvalleyus, they do not ship the model they give you in the title. They ship a samsung or something else. For the 13.3" macbook, they do not ship the regular model samsung apple uses. It looks the same to me, but the brightness/dim buttons` on the keyboard will not work unless you have some drivers/a newer OSX installed.

izashop (on ebay)

small things like top cases, bezels, etc. fast shipping, best prices, good parts.

screencountry

Their prices fluctuate greatly, which is unfortunate. However, they have a plethora of LCDs to select from, the occasional quantity discount, great shipping rates, and decent support.

The hall of SHAME:

blisscomputers/expresslcdscreens/browngranite

they claim to use "compatible" parts. However, what they send out is often ****. no model, no name junk with

- bars down the left side of the LCD
- poor fit
- washed out colors

I have, and others have, been roped into buying from them on numerous occasion. I am hoping someone I heard from recently who went through the experience I did will chime in here. Their parts are trash. They are notorious for the 15.4" LED LCDs that go for $177.

It is fine to sell alternative compatible models, but they truly stretch the definition of compatible. screencountry does this with a few LCDs, but they ship out ones where there is no visible difference, of established brand names and well known models.

ultradrives(ebay)

Imagine you buy part A. The eBay ad claims 13 available and a day later you'll receive an email with "GREAT NEWS!" claiming he's totally out of them, but that he can upgrade you to part B. You say sure, then he asks for more money. But you agreed to the price for part A. It's classic bait & switch, while being careless on eBay I made the mistake of using him a few times.
 
+1 for ifixit and I'm sure there are many others with the same opinion.

I have not had good luck with sunvalleytech. They shipped a faulty Powerbook G4 power brick and didn't respond to emails.
 
dmmcintyre3 said:
add http://ifixit.com
Click to expand...

To hall of fame or hall of shame?

They charge twice, to more than twice as much for any given part than any other place I know of. They are decent for getting compatibility information, but I would never advocate buying parts from there. I'm not saying they're bad by any means, but just not practical when you can get the same part new anyplace else for half the price.

Any site with guides(screenintek, powerbookmedic, ifixit), has highly inflated parts costs.

I will add a point to the hall of shame for sunvalley for the powerbook
 
iGary said:
Other World Computing - awesome supplier.
Click to expand...

Yes I forgot that one. Although they have upgrades they don't have logic boards and apple made parts

I created a guide page
[embedguide]Mac Part Suppliers[/embedguide]
 
Let him pay $500-$900 retail if he doesn't want one with dead pixels, I AM SICK OF HEARING PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!!"

Just to reiterate, never ever use bliss. It's not their products, but the attitude. I understand if you offer cheaper products, but don't tout them as perfectly good if you're going to be pissed when people find out they're not.
 
OWC -- Hall of Fame. They've never done me wrong.

We Love Macs -- Hall of Fame. Again, never a problem.

PowerBookMedic I wouldn't put on either list. I've had positive experiences with them and negative experiences. They seem to handle the little things fine, but when it comes to DVD drives, be careful.
 
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your post.Thank you for all the information.
 
I have bought from all of those stores and have found that THIS MAN is the apple parts expert.
I can't even begin to explain how much Kyle has helped me.

grassrootscomputers should also be in the hall of fame.
 
  • Screenaid should be in the Hall of Shame.. Maybe yours was a beginners luck purchase but keep ordering and they'll get you. Google screenaid before you order anything. Several of my colleagues in the industry have blacklisted them
  • Powerbookguy, most people say good about him, but PB guy wouldn't even sell me the stupid little logic board ribbon clip, and insisted he repair it himself, so he goes in my Hall of Shame.
  • The jerk at idemigods or whatever sold me a bad part and ignored my phone calls. I had to open a PayPal dispute to get my money back. Easily Hall of Shame. Probably even #1... Oh wait, that's THESE GUYS.
 
I've had over 25 successful transactions with AppleComponents so let's add them to the hall of fame.
  • They have a ton of parts.
  • The prices are the cheapest anywhere.
  • The website is indexed my model number and Apple part number which makes it easy to find parts.
  • and they're pretty fast with shipping. (Usually 2-4 days)
Even with all of this, I have to plug Kyle from Mission Repair/Etech Parts once more... They have earned 100% of my referrals because they stand behind their product in ways other suppliers just scratch their heads. For instance:

Kyle had sent me an LCD and for whatever reason it didn't work. Maybe it got damaged in shipping or maybe I handled it wrong- but it didn't matter because he fixed the problem with no hassle. He was really down to earth- it was as easy as picking up the phone and saying look, I run a repair shop, this is for an important client and the part doesn't work- and he sent me a working replacement overnight along with a UPS label to send his part back. I can tell these guys genuinely care.

Now, that's not to say he get's all of my business. If eTech has a part for $100 and someone like MacRecycling has as it for $70, I'm going with the latter- but eTech get's 100% of my referrals. ;)
 
Thank you l.a.rossmann. I need to buy a new notebook and your information helps me a lot.
Thanks again, Allan
PS: I'll update my notebook configuration soon.
 
lPHONE said:
  • Screenaid should be in the Hall of Shame.. Maybe yours was a beginners luck purchase but keep ordering and they'll get you. Google screenaid before you order anything. Several of my colleagues in the industry have blacklisted them
  • Powerbookguy, most people say good about him, but PB guy wouldn't even sell me the stupid little logic board ribbon clip, and insisted he repair it himself, so he goes in my Hall of Shame.
  • The jerk at idemigods or whatever sold me a bad part and ignored my phone calls. I had to open a PayPal dispute to get my money back. Easily Hall of Shame. Probably even #1... Oh wait, that's THESE GUYS.
Click to expand...

I agree with you.

I haven't updated this list in a while: LOTS MORE FOR THE HALL OF SHAME! :D

One person I gave DIY instructions to said they will mistake the letter A for the number zero in LCD models. I hate places that do that.
 
thanks for the input guys :) maybe you could visit my sig and post your gripes there as well?
 
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