I tripped in my hotel room and flipped an entire hot tea on my 2017 15” MacBook Pro. Is the apple store the cheapest solution? I’ve read about their massive upcharging. I don’t want to spend $1k for a $200 fix kind of thing.
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Cheapest place for MacBook pro repairs?
- Thread starter FlyingTexan
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It would have to be some third party non-authorized shop. Apple or any Apple Authorized Service Provider is going to follow Apple's guidelines. Which could mean logic board replacement, keyboard replacement and/or other components. It'll cost an arm and a leg.
- If you bought with a Credit Card. Check what sort of extended warranty they provide on purchases if any. Then check if it covers accidental damage.
- You can still get a fair amount for it non-functional on eBay (sell for parts or not working). Then buy the same model used. It'll probably be cheaper than having Apple do the repairs.
- You can go with a shop that deals with liquid damage. You want a specialist. Otherwise you'll just be swapping parts and it will again cost too much and would make more sense to sell. Most techs don't have the skill or training. I know there is some guy in New York who does this and publishes Youtube videos. But I don't recall the name. A logic board repair may or may not be possible.
- Sell it and buy a the latest refurbished or new model from Apple.
Edit: Having someone try to repair the damage. If possible will likely take a long time and you'll probably have to ship it. If you need this computer for work. I'd say to cut your loses, sell it and get a replacement. Logic board replacements are too expensive to make sense. Perhaps a keyboard replacement. Even that is expensive. Especially if Apple did it.
- If you bought with a Credit Card. Check what sort of extended warranty they provide on purchases if any. Then check if it covers accidental damage.
- You can still get a fair amount for it non-functional on eBay (sell for parts or not working). Then buy the same model used. It'll probably be cheaper than having Apple do the repairs.
- You can go with a shop that deals with liquid damage. You want a specialist. Otherwise you'll just be swapping parts and it will again cost too much and would make more sense to sell. Most techs don't have the skill or training. I know there is some guy in New York who does this and publishes Youtube videos. But I don't recall the name. A logic board repair may or may not be possible.
- Sell it and buy a the latest refurbished or new model from Apple.
Edit: Having someone try to repair the damage. If possible will likely take a long time and you'll probably have to ship it. If you need this computer for work. I'd say to cut your loses, sell it and get a replacement. Logic board replacements are too expensive to make sense. Perhaps a keyboard replacement. Even that is expensive. Especially if Apple did it.
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Rossmann Repair Group https://www.rossmanngroup.com
@ OP an Apple or Apple authorized repair will mostly if not always be the most expensive, as any part they find liquid on will be replaced. Also, if it's a USB-C MacBook Pro, it has fewer individual components than ever before, and I would expect the repair to be over $1000.
I will repeat @velocityg4's advice about finding a local repair shop that offers liquid damage repair for Mac. Until then, leave your Mac off and unplugged.
My experience with an independent shop in our area has been a mixed bag. After spending a few hundred dollars on repairing the same thing twice at an independent, the Apple Store fixed it correctly for a little over.a hundred. When my 2013 15-MBP died a slow death 18 months ago, the Apple Store fixed it - logic board, top case, and new 1TB SSD, for $600. Good advice above. Keep in mind that Apple charges nothing for an estimate.
Yep, plus if you send it into Rossman, make sure you pen a fake sob story about going to the Apple Store and they charged you $4000 to fix it or something. That'll ensure it'll go to the front of the line so he can feature that in on his next clickbait video and you'll get it repaired faster.
He's good at what he does but booooyyyy does he hate Apple products.
I have some experience with this, as I've had to send several 2017 Macbook Pros in for service already. At least one was due to liquid damage.
As others have said, you're not likely to get away with a repair that's much cheaper than buying another machine.
I tried Rossmann Repair Group recently for one of these repairs, and had a terrible experience. I know they're highly regarded as a cheaper alternative for service when Apple overcharges. But from what I've seen, that tends to be situations where you have something basic like a video ribbon cable that comes loose, and Apple wants to start selling replacement parts rather than just re-soldering the ribbon. On a liquid spill on these newer Macbook Pros, the challenge is that it very likely fried the main logic board from the liquid shorting things out. They run high voltage on lines that are closely spaced, beside others that will zap the CPU or other components if the voltage is able to "hop" over to them.
Rossmann isn't Apple authorized, so they can't just source new, repair parts from Apple directly like authorized shops do. Instead, they try to go in and do circuit level repairs where possible, and cannibalize parts off other used machines they get ahold of, in other cases.
In my situation? They screwed around, trying to do some soldering on the main board to revive it but failed. I received it back in the mail, completely dead. Had to get my local Apple authorized shop to service it after that, and they almost refused it because the water damage sensors had all been removed. (Guessing Rossmann did that just to make it difficult to get Apple to work on the machine in the future? There's no good reason to have tampered with those, really.) Total repair cost was, I think, about $300 cheaper than buying a new replacement machine. Still worth it in our case, since $300 is $300. But yeah .... hope you're insured.
As others have said, you're not likely to get away with a repair that's much cheaper than buying another machine.
I tried Rossmann Repair Group recently for one of these repairs, and had a terrible experience. I know they're highly regarded as a cheaper alternative for service when Apple overcharges. But from what I've seen, that tends to be situations where you have something basic like a video ribbon cable that comes loose, and Apple wants to start selling replacement parts rather than just re-soldering the ribbon. On a liquid spill on these newer Macbook Pros, the challenge is that it very likely fried the main logic board from the liquid shorting things out. They run high voltage on lines that are closely spaced, beside others that will zap the CPU or other components if the voltage is able to "hop" over to them.
Rossmann isn't Apple authorized, so they can't just source new, repair parts from Apple directly like authorized shops do. Instead, they try to go in and do circuit level repairs where possible, and cannibalize parts off other used machines they get ahold of, in other cases.
In my situation? They screwed around, trying to do some soldering on the main board to revive it but failed. I received it back in the mail, completely dead. Had to get my local Apple authorized shop to service it after that, and they almost refused it because the water damage sensors had all been removed. (Guessing Rossmann did that just to make it difficult to get Apple to work on the machine in the future? There's no good reason to have tampered with those, really.) Total repair cost was, I think, about $300 cheaper than buying a new replacement machine. Still worth it in our case, since $300 is $300. But yeah .... hope you're insured.
If you are looking for the place place to get Mac Book Pro Repairs. Mac warehouse is the place to go
He’s good at what he does and gives out the information for free (via YouTube at least). I’ll give him the click bait if he wants it.