You're gonna hate me for this one.

[temptations24]

I KNOW ya'll hate "to buy or not to buy" threads BUT since I spilled coffee on my laptop, I need some experienced people's thoughts.

1) I'm running a Macbook pro purchased in May of 2010 - 400GB hd, 2.66 intel core i7, 4GB of ram. I do a lot of audio production and editing of HD video files, fairly labor intensive.

2) On Thanksgiving, coffee was spilled on the counter and a bit got in and around the cover on the laptop. The laptop screen was a static image of many different colors (picture the rainbow-colored blocks you see when a TV station goes out, only much smaller) and I couldn't see the mouse of any of my folders.

3) I shut down the Mac with the power button and upon rebooting, it worked perfectly and has done so for the past two weeks without any noticeable glitches.

QUESTION #1: should I spring $3k for a new MBP with a 2.5 i7/8GB ram/720GB HD @ 7200 to avoid the risk of having this baby crap out on me? I'm still worried that the liquid that spilled on it two weeks ago could affect me down the road... Or would you assume (i know, it's hard to make that call) that if it's been working fine for two weeks, the computer just freaked and will continue to work as new?

QUESTION #2: Would I notice THAT much of a difference in video editing/audio production from a new MBP to make it worth spending 3K on now? Or would upgrading to 8GB of ram in my current laptop be sufficient?

Sorry for being a newb and annoying the hell out of people who get this question all the time but would appreciate any thoughts ya'll have.

 

[heisenberg123]

I KNOW ya'll hate "to buy or not to buy" threads BUT since I spilled coffee on my laptop, I need some experienced people's thoughts.

1) I'm running a Macbook pro purchased in May of 2010 - 400GB hd, 2.66 intel core i7, 4GB of ram. I do a lot of audio production and editing of HD video files, fairly labor intensive.

2) On Thanksgiving, coffee was spilled on the counter and a bit got in and around the cover on the laptop. The laptop screen was a static image of many different colors (picture the rainbow-colored blocks you see when a TV station goes out, only much smaller) and I couldn't see the mouse of any of my folders.

3) I shut down the Mac with the power button and upon rebooting, it worked perfectly and has done so for the past two weeks without any noticeable glitches.

QUESTION #1: should I spring $3k for a new MBP with a 2.5 i7/8GB ram/720GB HD @ 7200 to avoid the risk of having this baby crap out on me? I'm still worried that the liquid that spilled on it two weeks ago could affect me down the road... Or would you assume (i know, it's hard to make that call) that if it's been working fine for two weeks, the computer just freaked and will continue to work as new?

QUESTION #2: Would I notice THAT much of a difference in video editing/audio production from a new MBP to make it worth spending 3K on now? Or would upgrading to 8GB of ram in my current laptop be sufficient?

Sorry for being a newb and annoying the hell out of people who get this question all the time but would appreciate any thoughts ya'll have.

lucky for you i can see into the future and your computer that hasnt had a problem in 3 weeks after that accident wont start to have them any time soon.

glad i could help

 

[thundersteele]

I assume you have backups? Just use it, if it breaks, buy a new one, if it doesn't break, be happy that you were lucky.

Usually I would recommend to have the laptop looked at by Apple or by an Apple service provider. However since you're already playing with the idea of buying a new one in case this one fails, there is no need to spend money on checking the old machine and maybe replacing damaged parts.

Q1: I don't know if/when your machine will break.

Q2: Yes, there will be a speed improvement. No, I don't think it's worth $3k, unless you are currently severely limited in your work by the CPU.

 

[djpuma]

Don't buy a new one.

If it works then it's fine.
Wait until it completely craps out before you waste money on a new one.

 

[takeshi74]

Sorry for being a newb and annoying the hell out of people who get this question all the time but would appreciate any thoughts ya'll have.

It's a call that you need to make. I don't "fix" things that aren't broken. Are you looking for an excuse to upgrade? Again, it's a subjective matter.

 

[randomrazr]

why replace something that stil works? go ahead and blow money on another macbook LOL

 

[badtzwang]

Sounds like you're trying to come up with excuses for yourself, so that you can upgrade to the latest and greatest.

Why don't you wait to see if your laptop really does crap out on you, before you decide to spend $3 Grand on a new laptop.

 

[VMMan]

Are you thinking of selling it now, while it's still working?

Maybe you should open up the computer and just clean whatever coffee residue is inside or pay some guy to do this for you.

 

[Zwhaler]

1) I'm running a Macbook pro purchased in May of 2010 - 400GB hd, 2.66 intel core i7, 4GB of ram. I do a lot of audio production and editing of HD video files, fairly labor intensive.

I used that exact computer for video editing except I upgraded to 8GB of RAM and had the hi-res screen, it became apparent pretty early on that I was straining the computer to work as fast as I needed it to plus the 500GB hard drive was a huge bottleneck for storing a library of HD video. I upgraded to a Mac Pro and it makes a WORLD of difference. If you can get the newest MacBook Pro you will notice a big difference especially because the i7 now has double the cores and better graphics, I would opt for the biggest internal hard drive you can get and 16GB of RAM if you plan on using Final Cut Pro extensively.

I would sell what you have now and buy the new one instead of just buying the new one and keeping the old one too, that is too expensive to be efficient.

 

[sweetbrat]

Sure, it's still possible that something could go wrong with your current MBP. Coffee is nasty and acidic and not good for your MBP internals. That being said, it's currently working, so as long as you're making regular backups, I'd keep using it until it dies. It could stop working tomorrow, or it could go on for the next several years. The speed bump you'll get from upgrading isn't nearly enough to justify spending that much money, IMO. Just stick with what you've got until it either dies or it doesn't meet your needs anymore.

 

[some idiot]

The answer is "no" regardless because you shouldn't be buying the 8gb RAM upgrade from Apple

 

[tanderson11]

I've had coffee spilled on my MBP as well and that was about 6 months ago, all the ports on the left side of the mac got hit with coffee. I'm very lucky to have had it not mess up on me since. There is still minimal evidence of the coffee inside the ports where you can tell coffee was spilled there. I think you may be okay if it's been running fine for a few weeks now.