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My brother spilled a Venti pumpkin spice latte on his MacBook Air and the machine still works. I'm going to assume your rMBP will be a-okay.
 
I had my Macbook Air sitting in a puddle of beer at a party (my laptop was a source of music, I know it was dumb of me to have it out) and it wouldn't turn on after I closed it to clean it. I let it sit in a box of rice for a little less than 3 days and went to turn it on and it seems to be working. Nothing got in the keyboards and plus mine has a keyboard cover so it's a little different, but give the rice a shot.
 
Leave it keys facing upside down immediately, over the edge of a table or side with a pair of books resting on the speakers and the display vertical. The longer you leave it keys up the more chance the water can leak onto the logic board and short it if you switch it on. Do not turn it on for as long as possible!

I've done this with lemonade on a thinkpad and water with my old 2008 c2d unibody and left it a day, but I have a nice warm airing cupboard with wooden slats which I slotted the LCD through. Both still work, though I had to wash the Thinkpads keyboard down with denatured isopropyl to get rid of the stickiness.

This is my default advice to getting emergency calls from panicked friends at all hours at night and trust me it works!

And yes I should know better leaving drinks next to them as this is my job to fix these things but I blame the alcohol in my bloodstream at the time. Though even extremely drunk I will never allow anyone to put red coca cola next to my MBP as it is the spill of evil!
 
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The glass of water voided your warrantee.

There are liquid spill indicators placed at different locations inside.

They are very sensitive.

If you had bought a ThinkPad T series, they're designed for durability and exposure to spills. The water simply drains out of the bottom of the case, no harm done.

I've often wondered why this three year old feature is missing from my rMBP that cost exactly twice as much as my equally nice ThinkPad.
 
Several good ideas and I don't mean to be flip but this is a good investment. I never go near my PC without it.

Contigo Spill Proof Mug
Here's what I use lol
ScreenShot2014-03-18at234022.png


Barney
 
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If you had bought a ThinkPad T series, they're designed for durability and exposure to spills. The water simply drains out of the bottom of the case, no harm done.

I've often wondered why this three year old feature is missing from my rMBP that cost exactly twice as much as my equally nice ThinkPad.

Because it can help, but it doesn't stop the water from corroding the components. Opening the case and letting it drain does the same thing.
 
Because it can help, but it doesn't stop the water from corroding the components. Opening the case and letting it drain does the same thing.

You're wrong, guessing is as inaccurate as assuming.

The water (or any fluid) that is spilled into the ThinkPad keyboard is captured by ducting that prevents it from coming in contact with the components. That ducting guides the water out through dedicated drain holes in the bottom of the laptop.

Therefore it's maintenance free and cannot cause corrosion or any other problems. Nor is there any reason to open the case. Now that's smart design.
 
All that can be said is...

I trust you have learned something, about how to handle drinks and liquids around a laptop.

Only additional advice is...
Go forth, and learn...
 
Sorry to be pessimistic but I would assume that the MBPr is damaged. Given that I would do the following:

1. Make sure you have a backup of everything that you need.

2. Assume it will fail on you earlier than normal so make sure you keep an up-to-date backup.

3. If you depend in it for school or work, make sure you have a backup device to move to when the MBPr fails. Apple warranty is now gone so they won't help you. You should ask these questions: If it died at the most inopportune time how you work around it? If you were working on a project or on a deadline how would you complete it?

4. Are you going to buy new or fix it when it dies? What can you afford? Should you put some money back?


I'm a realist. You can't spill that much water in it and think that everything is ok. If you plan for the consequences now you will save yourself hassle later.

I depend on my MBPr for work so I am very careful with my equipment. However, I keep a good backup and have a plan to work around my MBPr if it were damaged...

Good Luck!
-P
 
You're wrong, guessing is as inaccurate as assuming.

The water (or any fluid) that is spilled into the ThinkPad keyboard is captured by ducting that prevents it from coming in contact with the components. That ducting guides the water out through dedicated drain holes in the bottom of the laptop.

Therefore it's maintenance free and cannot cause corrosion or any other problems. Nor is there any reason to open the case. Now that's smart design.


So go buy a Thinkpad and deal with less than ideal features in every other category so you can make up for your own clumsiness.

No one cares about a spill proof Thinkpad here. I just choose not to spill liquid on my laptop.
 
Can Apple not open it up and inspect it?
Even it cost a couple of hundred bucks it'd be worth it, no?
 
Prop up your mac open and on it's side. Place a blow dryer a foot or so away on low heat and leave it for a couple hours. It will dry the internals allot faster than sitting with rice or other desiccants. I did this trick after pouring a beer down the screen of my macbook air in a hotel room. I also took the bottom plate off to check for residual moisture and clean up a bit later on.
 
So go buy a Thinkpad and deal with less than ideal features in every other category so you can make up for your own clumsiness.

No one cares about a spill proof Thinkpad here. I just choose not to spill liquid on my laptop.

Oh my, such an emotional response.
 
Oh my, such an emotional response.

Not at all. If the Thinkpad were actually a better computer, then we would have all bought one over the MBP, including you. There is a reason you are here. You are here because you know the MBP is better, or you are here to troll with your only argument being "I can spill liquid on my Thinkpad". The rational folks just choose to not be so clumsy.
 
do yourself a favor and buy a looooooooot of rice, enough to completely submerge the entire laptop by several inches, and the appropriate container with a lid. Leave it in there a for a couple days at least....worked for me before.
 
My philosophy is to have a laptop fund in case something goes wrong and use my macbook however i want to, juggling beers on a unicycle if that's my prerogative... I find it obnoxious when people shame others because they had an accident and are looking for advice, OP has hardly been hysterical about it, just asked some questions on a message board where people ask questions... BFD.
 
If you put your macbook in a wheelbarrow full of rice…..

It will not remove the calcium and minerals and other contaminants that are left behind on your logic board as the liquid evaporates.
 
Prop up your mac open and on it's side. Place a blow dryer a foot or so away on low heat and leave it for a couple hours. It will dry the internals allot faster than sitting with rice or other desiccants. I did this trick after pouring a beer down the screen of my macbook air in a hotel room. I also took the bottom plate off to check for residual moisture and clean up a bit later on.

Or just run Win7 for a hour. The CPU's heat will dry the inside in no time :D

I did the same thing with Coke on my last laptop. It was a 3 years old Dell laptop that cost $2000+ at the time. It definitely got into the machine because the screen went crazy and the machine shut itself off a few seconds later. Can't remember what I done, but I basically dried it and it worked for the next 7 years (present). Off cause I don't use it anymore, but it still turns on - well like a minute to boot into WinXP.
 
The title says it all. It spilled all over the keyboard while the computer was on. Nothing seemed to short out or have any effect on the machine itself. I immediately unplugged it and took a towel to dry it off. I shook off what little water was left and now I'm leaving it on my counter, open, to completely dry off.

Did I just **** up my $2000 computer that's 3 weeks old? Or did I just get extremely lucky? I'm assuming if there was any water that got inside the machine it would have shorted immediately. Also I should mention that water did not touch any of the ports or the vents in the back/side of the machine.

Any advice to further prevent any damage would be greatly appreciated!

You aren't the first. Here is what happened when water was spilled on mine. #1) Open it and leave it upside down for 2 days. Do not use a fan to speed up the process

#2) Take it into Apple and let them look at it. For mine, there was damage, and it could shorten the life of my MacBook, but so far nothing. So back up more often than usual.

Edit: More specific damage - the Apple guys saw "corrosion" on the motherboard, but said it didn't affect function just yet.
 
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