Liquid spilled on 2011 MacBook Pro 17-inch

[tubeexperience]

I have been holding dearly to my 2011 MacBook Pro 17", knowing that Apple would not make another one.

Over a month ago, my drunk S.O. spilled water on it.

I have previously disassembled this laptop routinely for cleaning and applying new thermal paste, so I have the toolkit on hand.

A minute after the spill, I had the back cover opened and cut power to the logic board.

In 40 minutes, I had the laptop disassembled down to the keyboard.

I wiped the logic board with clean cloth and clean it with 91% rubbing alcohol.

I then use a hair dryer to blow on the keyboard from the backside.

After a couple of days drying, I reassembled the laptop, but it won't turn on.

Then I took the laptop to the Apple Store, but the Apple "Genius" (and I put it in quotation for a reason) told me that my logic board is gone and I need to pay close to $1000 to fix it.

I took it home and then remembered that the power switch is connected to the keyboard, so there was a chance the keyboard is bad and prevented the laptop from turning on.

I bought and installed the replacement keyboard. After pressing the power button, the charm came on and I felt a great weight has been lifted off me.

It been over a month since my laptop came back to life and I have been using it everyday.

So, should I still be worry about consequence of the spill coming back to haunt me later?

 

[T5BRICK]

So, should I still be worry about consequence of the spill coming back to haunt me later?

It sounds like you handled the spill in the best possible way, but there is always a chance that some of the liquid made its way under a component and corrosion may show up later. Plain water is probably the least likely to cause issues in the long run, so at least you've got that going for you.

 

[tubeexperience]

I do have to question the knowledgeability of the Apple "Genius".

Had I not known better, I would be out of ~$1000 replacing a part that I don't really need to and possibly getting back one with a defective GPU.

 

[T5BRICK]

I do have to question the knowledgeability of the Apple "Genius".

Had I not known better, I would be out of ~$1000 replacing a part that I don't really need to and possibly getting back one with a defective GPU.

That's just Apple policy. If a Mac is involved in a spill, they replace all parts that may have been damaged and charge a hefty fee.