What is the cheapest repair on a cMBP?

[Irock619]

Like the title says. I am trying to justify the purchase of AppleCare to my wife. Military/student pricing is $239 for my computer My warranty runs out mid October. I would think that the cheapest repair for a computer such as mine would be no less than $200. And the chances of that part going bad is slim to none.

 

[mohsy90]

Thats a very broad question. Repair could be anything from a failed hard drive or ram to an entire logic board failure. You really don't know whether its going to be a cheap repair until something goes wrong.

hard drive ($50) for a 320GB hard drive
Ram ($35) for 4GB

Logic Board or display failure ($500+)

So this all depends on whether you want to take the risk. I personally do not buy AppleCare if my computer works flawless after the 1 year manufacturer warranty. This is not to say that people dont end up with failures in year 2 or 3, they do, and thats when AppleCare is well worth it.

 

[Irock619]

Thats a very broad question. Repair could be anything from a failed hard drive or ram to an entire logic board failure. You really don't know whether its going to be a cheap repair until something goes wrong.

hard drive ($50) for a 320GB hard drive
Ram ($35) for 4GB

Logic Board or display failure ($500+)

So this all depends on whether you want to take the risk. I personally do not buy AppleCare if my computer works flawless after the 1 year manufacturer warranty. This is not to say that people dont end up with failures in year 2 or 3, they do, and thats when AppleCare is well worth it.

Thanks for the reply. I am not worried about RAM or HDD failure because I have Crucial SSD and RAM which is backed up with a three year manufacture warranty.

The problem is that you can't purchase AppleCare after the warranty expires. Unless they are willing to inspect your machine and determine that the machine is in good working order at the time of inspection. I doubt they would be willing to do this a year after the original warranty expired.

 

[AlsoKnownAs]

A logic board replacement could cost around $1200 for a MBP.

 

[mohsy90]

A logic board replacement could cost around $1200 for a MBP.

A 13" MBP costs $1200, but yes, higher end 15" can cost that much

 

[JD92]

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[Dark Void]

I would explain to her that it is a good investment as some repairs could cost quite a bit, much more than Applecare itself, and that covers more than just one repair of course.

It's justifiable to a degree, unless you have more important priorities than coverage for one computer.

 

[alphaod]

I think I was billed 10¢ for a screw, but they waved it.

In case you need food for thought… this is what it would have cost me if I didn't have AppleCare:

That AppleCare was only $180

 

[AppleDApp]

AppleCare also includes phone support. In the two years that I had my MBP I replaced the logic board twice, the display and the bottom case.

Bottom case replacement was probably 100$ or so.
Logic board and display replacements are 500$+

 

[Irock619]

I would explain to her that it is a good investment as some repairs could cost quite a bit, much more than Applecare itself, and that covers more than just one repair of course

That's what I keep telling her. She won't be happy when the logic board goes bad and then I buy a new rMBP

I think I was billed 10¢ for a screw, but they waved it.

In case you need food for thought… this is what it would have cost me if I didn't have AppleCare:
Image

That AppleCare was only $180

No kidding that two processors would cost a pretty penny. It seems Apple would have saved money if they just gave you a whole new machine.

AppleCare also includes phone support. In the two years that I had my MBP I replaced the logic board twice, the display and the bottom case.

Bottom case replacement was probably 100$ or so.
Logic board and display replacements are 500$+

This might answer my question. Any case replacement would probably be the cheapest. I was thinking maybe a new trackpad or something would be the cheapest fix. The only way I would need a new case is if I dropped it though.

 

[old-wiz]

I'd think that if you dropped it the case might be the least of worries - I'd worry about broken screen.

 

[Dark Void]

That's what I keep telling her. She won't be happy when the logic board goes bad and then I buy a new rMBP

Haha, yeah for sure. I don't know how to make it any more persuasive, I personally think it's worth it. Sure, you may not experience any problems in the three year period but you also may experience quite a few, justifying the cost completely.

Offer her a pair of shoes or something for her consent. Although at that point you may want to just hold out and pay for a new logic board if it goes bad.

 

[alphaod]

No kidding that two processors would cost a pretty penny. It seems Apple would have saved money if they just gave you a whole new machine.

I didn't even post the other work authorization.

On that they replaced the motherboard, power supply, CPU daughter card; they also ordered the wrong processors (which they installed); thats why there is the second order for the right processors. Total was about $5000 with this second job. Yeah, I was wondering why they didn't give me a replacement machine.

 

[AppleDApp]

This might answer my question. Any case replacement would probably be the cheapest. I was thinking maybe a new trackpad or something would be the cheapest fix. The only way I would need a new case is if I dropped it though.

Damage that is inflicted by the user is not covered by AppleCare. In my case I had a bad display so they replaced both at once.

 

[Irock619]

Damage that is inflicted by the user is not covered by AppleCare. In my case I had a bad display so they replaced both at once.

Rules are meant to be broken. I already had a MBP replaced because I dropped it and my HDD, camera, and microphone failed. Genius felt my pain and replaced my entire machine with a new one.

 

[Freyqq]

cheapest repair is probably ram. 2x4 gb of ram is about $40. However, as long as the ram isn't faulty to begin with, it very rarely breaks. The most likely thing to break is probably a hard drive since it has moving parts. hard drives can go from $60 to $100 or so. An SSD (faster, but less capacity) can go from $100 to $400+.