Water damaged MBP repair cost

[bgarland]

Last year, my MBP got water spilt on the keyboard. The computer immediately died, never to turn on again. After reading lots of forums and trying lots of at-home solutions (and not being very techy) we ultimately just assumed the worst and went off to the Apple store to get a new MBP (after copying the, happily undamaged, hard drive).

Repairing it wasn't really an option. We assumed it was expensive, the MBP was already two years old, Lion had just come out... It wasn't worth the time or money when we could afford a new one. So, we went home with the nice new one and the paperweight one and didn't think much else of it.

Well, now I'd really like to have that spare computer and we'd be interested in having it repaired. I dug it out last night and out of curiosity plugged in the charger. The light turned orange and we were thrilled. After a few minutes, the light slowly died out, and we were bummed. But not very surprised.

So, my question is, does this sound like the problem is the logic board? How much do those run, around $700-$800? Like I said, we aren't very techy people, so I don't know much about the innards of my computers. I know the screen immediately went black; I believe he tried to charge it afterwards but didn't hear any weird sounds or anything. And apparently it still accepts the charger for a couple of minutes but has never turned on. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Asuriyan]

The cost of a motherboard alone is around $700. That doesn't address the distinct possibility that the battery and keyboard are also shot. There could also be corrosion in the casing, especially after having sat for so long. And if you aren't technically inclined, be prepared to pay someone else to do the repair.

The alternative is to have Apple repair it, which last I checked was $1250 under their flat-rate service. That puts you in the range where buying a new computer might be more economical. At most a 2010 MBP is worth $1000 or so, depending on size and options.

 

[Laco]

The cost of a motherboard alone is around $700. That doesn't address the distinct possibility that the battery and keyboard are also shot. There could also be corrosion in the casing, especially after having sat for so long. And if you aren't technically inclined, be prepared to pay someone else to do the repair.

The alternative is to have Apple repair it, which last I checked was $1250 under their flat-rate service. That puts you in the range where buying a new computer might be more economical. At most a 2010 MBP is worth $1000 or so, depending on size and options.

I completely agree with this except for the last part. There is no way that that computer is worth anywhere near $1000 even if it was in mint condition - I am assuming that you have a 13 Macbook Pro. You can buy a refurbished 2012 Macbook Pro from Apple for $1,019.00 - the most recent model. So that computer is worth well under a thousand dollars. Cut your losses, if you need another computer buy a refurbished Macbook Pro from Apple for a thousand dollars and not worry about fixing this one. That is what I would do.

 

[Brian Y]

If it's a 15", it's worth repairing it (just). If it's a 13", it's well and truly beyond economic repair.

It's worth taking it in to have a look though - it might just be the MagSafe board. You never know.

 

[Asuriyan]

I completely agree with this except for the last part. There is no way that that computer is worth anywhere near $1000 even if it was in mint condition. You can buy a refurbished 2012 Macbook Pro from Apple for $1,019.00 - the most recent model. So that computer is worth well under a thousand dollars. Cut your losses, if you need another computer buy a refurbished Macbook Pro from Apple for a thousand dollars and not worry about fixing this one. That is what I would do.

Don't underestimate the market for used MacBooks. The 2010 17" models still have pretty good resale value. I've seen them as high as 1400. But that's an outlier. That 2012 refurb you're quoting is a 13", as well, I would assume from the price.

The best case puts it right on the edge of economic repair though. The worst case makes it a brick (albeit a brick you could sell for parts).

 

[SuperShredder]

Apple will provide a flat rate option of $755 + tax for a 13 inch and $1240 + tax for a 15 inch Macbook Pro. It's a lot of money, but may be worth it to you. If it can't be fixed, they will say its beyond economic repair and send it back at no charge.

 

[iPhonesandMacs]

I would be willing to buy the water damaged macbook pro, I buy and part them out.

 

[bgarland]

Thank you for your replies! It is a 13" MBP as some of you suggested. I kind of figured it would be expensive, and quite likely impossible since it's been sitting in it's box for over a year. The charging light just got us excited that it might still have something left in there that worked.

We do plan to take it to a repair store to see what they think; I didn't really want to part with it for sentimental reasons (my very first Mac computer) so it may just got back in it's box for a while longer while I think about what to do with it. Ha.

But thank you all again, very much!

 

[glenthompson]

You could sell it on eBay for parts and get part of the price of a new one. That way you end up with a better machine for not much more.

 

[l.a.rossmann]

The most expensive motherboard I've purchased in my lifetime was about $520. That's for the top of the line machine.

That's assuming it's not fixable. A few things to consider when dealing with liquid damage.

a) Is your motherboard fixable, or not fixable?

b) Is your keyboard good, or dead?

c) For Unibodies, is your old battery fried to the point that it's going go f%&k up any motherboard it is plugged into?

d) Are LVDS cables good, or are pins corroded away and destroyed?

Some people get the board repaired for 150-300 and leave. Some people have a bad keyboard and nothing else. Some people have a bad keyboard, bad battery, and a totally dead motherboard. That's when it goes over $600.

Open the bottom case of the laptop and have a looksee. If what you see makes you want to puke, than you know it's towards the expensive end of things.

A new machine is $1000+. If your laptop is not turning on because a keyboard is dead or a single FET is burned out, it doesn't make sense to throw it away.

 

[peterben2004]

MBR Repair

Hi, I know a very good place where you can probably recover your motherboard from water spill. They charge only 89.99$ I got there last month and they saved my Macbook Air.
Apple Repair