Should I fix this MBP, or buy new?

[Green2Delta]

First I'd like to say that I'm not a mac user, but I'd like to become one (the only apple product I own at the moment is an iPod touch). Now, I have the oppertunity to buy a broken MacBook Pro for relatively cheap, but I'm curious to know how much cash I would have to lay down to get this thing working. Given the problems mentioned in the ad I posted below, I would assume I would need to get new hardware (processor, motherboard, RAM, hard drive). Am I on the right track thinking this? Or am I way off? Anyone know how much fixing this would set me back, or if it would just be better to get a new one.

The ad in question:

FS: 17" MacBook Pro
2.16 GHz, 1 gig of Ram, Superdrive, Intel Core Dual
$750 obo I will knock off $100 and I will keep the battery and the charger
The Bad:
The computer was dropped at the end of last year. It continued to work for about a month then it just locked up and died one day while i was using it. The screen is perfect!!

I don't know exactly what's wrong with the computer, if it can be fixed, or if it's just good for parts. I bought a new one ASAP since I am a photographer and I can't go without a computer. This has been sitting in a spare room for too long now. I had the computer sent off to 3rd party Mac repair shop for them to retrieve data off my harddrive and it was unsuccessful. I was not about to pay for recovery in a clean room. I'm not sure if the harddrive is even in the computer.

I will happy perform any tests that you can think of, or take any more pictures if necessary. i just want this gone!

with the boot disc in, it can't find the hard drive to write to

The damage

Again, it can't find the drive.

Not sure if this would be a hardware fix or not. TIA

 

[Castaway]

From the pictures, apart from the hard disk being dead, I don't think there's anything else wrong with this one.

 

[aross99]

Hard to tell for sure, but that doesn't look like that much damage to be causing anything serious. Maybe the hard drive is just dead?

Kind of a gamble, but if you can boot up from the CD like that, it would seem like 99.9% of the computer is working fine.

I wonder if you could install OS X to an external drive? Probably kind of hard to get the seller to do to much, or they might realize that THEY should fix it...

At that price, I think you could part it out and still break even. it's going to cost you about $200 total for a charger and battery, but you are still under $1,000 for vs $2,500+ for a new (faster) 17". If the hard drive is bad, it will cost another $120-$150.

Assuming the guy is on the up-and-up, and if you can afford it, I would go for it at that price...

 

[masse]

That is so ****ing lucky.

It just needs a hard drive. Had the same problem with my powerbook that I got for cheap.

if you dont buy it i will.