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Repair cost for 2014 Macbook Pro Retina (non-applecare)?

arbybaconator

arbybaconator

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2015
20
6
Austin, TX
I have a 2014 macbook pro retina that was dropped and now has a defective screen. Can anyone tell me from experience how much it costs to get this fixed at the apple store (United States), and approximately how long it takes? I do not have apple care. Weighing my options...
 
Apple would charge you ~$800.

I would suggest you take your laptop to a third party instead for repair.
 
tubeexperience said:
Apple would charge you ~$800.

I would suggest you take your laptop to a third party instead for repair.
Click to expand...

I tried a local mac repair center in Austin - they suggested to go with Apple since it cost /more/ for the third party to do the repair than the apple store. I guess I could shop around a bit.

I'm debating just selling the broken macbook and buy a new one.
 
arbybaconator said:
I tried a local mac repair center in Austin - they suggested to go with Apple since it cost /more/ for the third party to do the repair than the apple store.
Click to expand...

This is almost always the case. I'm not sure of the actual screen problem. Diagnosing the problem to avoid replacing parts is tricky. If you have an Apple Store nearby, you might have them look at it. If they offer depot repair as an option (the genius bar has a certain amount of leeway so it could go either way), then it's more like $350 to fix anything that needs to be fixed out of warranty.

Applecare would not necessarily save you here. They can look at it, say it's accidental damage, and deny it based on that. Applecare would have been somewhere around $250-350 at the time, so either way you're out a similar amount of money assuming they offer depot repair in spite of damage on the user end. Many people on here have claimed that they're more lenient if you have applecare. It never happened for me, but as I mentioned they have a certain amount of leeway.
 
arbybaconator said:
I tried a local mac repair center in Austin - they suggested to go with Apple since it cost /more/ for the third party to do the repair than the apple store. I guess I could shop around a bit.

I'm debating just selling the broken macbook and buy a new one.
Click to expand...

Some third parties do LCD only replacements which are cheaper than display assembly replacements.
 
Unless I'm mistaken, someone please correct me if I am, you can buy an extended Apple Care plan for your laptop as long as it's under 3 years for ~$150. This would save you a lot of money, as replacing the top clamshell of my 15" 2010 MBP would have cost me $1300 by an Apple certified repair shop.
 
mildocjr said:
Unless I'm mistaken, someone please correct me if I am, you can buy an extended Apple Care plan for your laptop as long as it's under 3 years for ~$150.
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AppleCare is extended warranty and doesn't cover accidental damages.

mildocjr said:
This would save you a lot of money, as replacing the top clamshell of my 15" 2010 MBP would have cost me $1300 by an Apple certified repair shop.
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You were deceived.
 
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mildocjr said:
Unless I'm mistaken, someone please correct me if I am, you can buy an extended Apple Care plan for your laptop as long as it's under 3 years for ~$150. This would save you a lot of money, as replacing the top clamshell of my 15" 2010 MBP would have cost me $1300 by an Apple certified repair shop.
Click to expand...

That doesn't cover accidental or physical damage (liquid, drops, etc). AppleCare+ (which does cover those types of damage) is only available for mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad.
 
mildocjr said:
I wasn't deceived, I didn't pay for it, apple care took care of it for me, and this is what Apple sent on the return work order along with the Laptop as it couldn't be repaired directly at the shop. This was years ago otherwise I'd post the receipt.
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mildocjr said:
Unless I'm mistaken, someone please correct me if I am, you can buy an extended Apple Care plan for your laptop as long as it's under 3 years for ~$150. This would save you a lot of money, as replacing the top clamshell of my 15" 2010 MBP would have cost me $1300 by an Apple certified repair shop.
Click to expand...

They may make exceptions, but that is not their standard policy and should not be assumed. You can see their standard policy here as stated by Apple. It says toward the bottom of the page that you can only add applecare while it's covered by the 1 year warranty. As you can see here, their standard price for a 15" model is $349. Sometimes you can find it for less through other retailers.
 
thekev said:
They may make exceptions, but that is not their standard policy and should not be assumed. You can see their standard policy here as stated by Apple. It says toward the bottom of the page that you can only add applecare while it's covered by the 1 year warranty. As you can see here, their standard price for a 15" model is $349. Sometimes you can find it for less through other retailers.
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I appreciate your post, but I think it's a bit unnecessary. My original post mentioned that my experience was from a long time ago, but in the end I was saved by Apple Care since the receipt showed Apple Care covered all $1300 of the expense of replacing the top clamshell. The links are great but are for people who would actually be needing Apple Care, my post was more of, if you can't get Apple Care, get a quote and find out if it's worth it to you.

I don't need schooling on how to find policies since about 6 hours ago I had to explain government compliance laws and how they protect consumer privacy in cloud environments.
 
mildocjr said:
I appreciate your post, but I think it's a bit unnecessary. My original post mentioned that my experience was from a long time ago, but in the end I was saved by Apple Care since the receipt showed Apple Care covered all $1300 of the expense of replacing the top clamshell. The links are great but are for people who would actually be needing Apple Care, my post was more of, if you can't get Apple Care, get a quote and find out if it's worth it to you.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why I mention the Apple Store. If they offer depot repair as an option (typically they'll just say "send it out"), it's a flat rate rather than itemized. I've used that before. I don't think my post sounds condescending*. I had wanted to point out to others who come across this that your results may have been atypical.


*I re-read it to check for that as you said it's a "bit unnecessary". I wasn't sure whether that meant mildly insulting or condescending or similar, none of which was intended.
 
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thekev said:
Yeah that's why I mention the Apple Store. If they offer depot repair as an option (typically they'll just say "send it out"), it's a flat rate rather than itemized. I've used that before. I don't think my post sounds condescending*. I had wanted to point out to others who come across this that your results may have been atypical.


*I re-read it to check for that as you said it's a "bit unnecessary". I wasn't sure whether that meant mildly insulting or condescending or similar, none of which was intended.
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Depot Repair (also called flat rate repair) has 4 tiers. Tier 1 being the least expensive and Tier 4 being the most expensive.

Anyway, cracked screen is definitely not a Tier 4 and hence the repair shouldn't cost $1300.

Tier 4 is usually for liquid damage.

Obviously, for liquid damage, it's cheaper to pay a third party to repair the logic board than to pay Apple to replace the logic board with a refurbished one.
 
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Apple will price it soo high that it will force you to upgrade......... Happen to me..I took in my 2014 Macbook Pro cause the trackpad were getting stuck....They wanted $800.00 from me to fix it........smh...........
 
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