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What should I do with my water damaged Powerbook?

X

xFU3Lx

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2005
85
0
Recently, my Powerbook got water spilled on it, god knows how. I just woke up and see it sitting there, locked up, in a puddle of water. I sent it to Apple and they quoted $1300 to fix. I had them just send it back to me.

First off, I won my 15" Powerbook at the Tiger release. So i've got no real monetary loss on this mishap. But I've got a Mac addiction now, I don't want to be stuck using Windows forever. I need to get some advice on what I could do with this. I'm not really interested in paying $1300 to fix it.

Option A: I could part it out, or sell it as a whole. I'm not sure how much money I could get for it as a whole though. They wouldnt' tell me what all is wrong with it. Logic board and CPU are probably fried. I'm pretty sure everything else is alright. Battery still works, the fans turn on when I hit the power button.

If I sold what I could on it, I'd put that money towards an iMac G5.

Option B: Find a local place to repair it. I think I could get it done cheaper locally.

My main issue is figuring out how much I could get for the messed up PB. Whats everyones opinions on what I should do?
 
Option C: Give it to me please?

Its going to cost a lot of money to fix it anywhere because if it is the logic board they are pretty expensive (6-700 from my memory)

Part it out if you wish.
 
eva01 said:
Option C: Give it to me please?

Its going to cost a lot of money to fix it anywhere because if it is the logic board they are pretty expensive (6-700 from my memory)

Part it out if you wish.
Click to expand...
Would it be best to part it out or sell it as a whole?
 
xFU3Lx said:
Option B: Find a local place to repair it. I think I could get it done cheaper locally.

My main issue is figuring out how much I could get for the messed up PB. Whats everyones opinions on what I should do?
Click to expand...

This is a tough call. A shame it happened.

You might see what an Apple authorized service place in your area might charge, for the repairs. If they could get it down to a $1000 or less, it might be worth the repair?

However, you might see what kind of offers you can get on it, for parts and for the whole. I believe the Tiger giveaway boxes were 1.33 GHZ 15-inch Combo right? They have that model, as a refurb, at Apple.com right now. It is $1449. Maybe try to get $500-$600 for parts or the whole, and then spend the money to get that refurb offering from Apple.com, or whatever model you want.
 
technocoy said:
specs?

I may be interested in a full purchase.
Click to expand...
15"/1.5 G4/combo drive/80gb/1gb

Its the latest model. I have Tiger disk that came with it, and iLife. And a pretty nice laptop bag that I bought for it. I upgraded to 1gb RAM a month or so ago. Its Apple cert. RAM too, bought it off a guy who upgraded his 17" to 2 gb.
 
powerbook911 said:
This is a tough call. A shame it happened.

You might see what an Apple authorized service place in your area might charge, for the repairs. If they could get it down to a $1000 or less, it might be worth the repair?

However, you might see what kind of offers you can get on it, for parts and for the whole. I believe the Tiger giveaway boxes were 1.33 GHZ 15-inch Combo right? They have that model, as a refurb, at Apple.com right now. It is $1449. Maybe try to get $500-$600 for parts or the whole, and then spend the money to get that refurb offering from Apple.com, or whatever model you want.
Click to expand...
Its the 1.5 GHz
 
You should be able to get $600-700 for display alone.
I would just sell its parts.

Have you found who messed with your PB yet?
 
Mac_Freak said:
You should be able to get $600-700 for display alone.
I would just sell its parts.

Have you found who messed with your PB yet?
Click to expand...
Nope :(

If I ever do though, they can count on a broken jaw.
 
applemacdude said:
sell it on ebay youll probaly get around $800
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I hope I could get that much. That'd be plenty for me to add to some of what I've got and snatch up an iMac. :cool:
 
xFU3Lx said:
Nope :(

If I ever do though, they can count on a broken jaw.
Click to expand...


it was me!!! HAHA!!

seriously though, part it out. go here http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/54.0.0.html and figure out what everything is and how to remove it. maybe even sell it all with a doa guarantee if you dont want to find a way to test it all.

on second thought, maybe hold on to it for about 12 months until the parts arent in production any more and theyre really hard to find. i dont know how much that would effect the price (if at all, good/bad), so ymmv.
 
why didn't you just let it dry out and then and use warranty on it?

maybe that is sorta lame, but accidents do happen, and apple care IS expensive enough that when something like this happens maybe apple will just fix it...

just a thought, but i guess it might be too late now...
 
camomac said:
why didn't you just let it dry out and then and use warranty on it?

maybe that is sorta lame, but accidents do happen, and apple care IS expensive enough that when something like this happens maybe apple will just fix it...

just a thought, but i guess it might be too late now...
Click to expand...
I did let it dry out before I sent it in on warranty. They found evidence of water damage and voided the warranty.
 
xFU3Lx said:
Recently, my Powerbook got water spilled on it, god knows how. I just woke up and see it sitting there, locked up, in a puddle of water. I sent it to Apple and they quoted $1300 to fix. I had them just send it back to me.
Click to expand...

My first concern would be the spontaneous appearance of H2O.
 
Since you're a fellow PB winner :)D), it would be all profit.

Maybe part it out, and then get an iBook with the money you got?
You'd be back in the Mac world, and it'd be good.

If you feel a need to visit a 15" PB, you can always head to the Apple Store...
 
iDM said:
My first concern would be the spontaneous appearance of H2O.
Click to expand...
I've already tried to figure it out. I guess someone came into the room while i was gone and spilled somethin on it.
 
yenko said:
Does anybody carry insurance any more. :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, no kidding. Try and see if it can get fixed through that. Got my 'bashed up iBook G4 fixed through insurance.
 
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