Background: I have a 2.5 year old 17" MBP (2.17 ghz core duo bought Aug 06, I think) that has a screwed up track pad and screen that only displays gray. Display used to go grey and distorted intermittently over the last 6 months until I jiggled the screen, until it finally went all grey. Apple authorized repair place has quoted me $1200 repair cost for a new top case and track pad and screen, which just doesn't seem worth it. (on a side note, Apple store had thought it needed just a new display cable, how do I know these repair guys aren't screwing me?)
I had originally bought it for architecture school program needs and as my main media center, but I switched majors and bought a HD projector, so the only somewhat power-intensive thing I do is music recording/editing, but only for demo kind of things with just a few guitar and MIDI tracks and I don't really need the huge screen anymore.
Thus, I'm thinking for roughly salvage value plus repair costs I can get a new macbook, which looks like would be faster anyway. Or I'm thinking a cheap netbook for on the go, while I use the laptop as a desktop hooked up to the projector and get a wireless keyboard.
Any advice would be helpful, as the sheer cost of this repair is really complicating things.
I had originally bought it for architecture school program needs and as my main media center, but I switched majors and bought a HD projector, so the only somewhat power-intensive thing I do is music recording/editing, but only for demo kind of things with just a few guitar and MIDI tracks and I don't really need the huge screen anymore.
Thus, I'm thinking for roughly salvage value plus repair costs I can get a new macbook, which looks like would be faster anyway. Or I'm thinking a cheap netbook for on the go, while I use the laptop as a desktop hooked up to the projector and get a wireless keyboard.
Any advice would be helpful, as the sheer cost of this repair is really complicating things.
