To spend, or not to spend.

So, I have a MBP that was purchased in November '06. My brother-in-law just moved down to UCSD to go to school and I'd told him I'd give him this MBP so that he could save some money. Last night, I went to his house to update it to Snow Leopard and everything was going fine until it was time to reboot. I've not been able to get it to come back on... Apple Genius thinks it's the logic board.

So, do I spend the ~$350 to have it shipped out and all hardware issues repaired? Has anyone done this and could you tell me if it was worth the money? I'm sure it's a better idea than spending the nearly $500 on replacing just the logic board, which is what he quoted me.

It may not be the Logic board but if it is, a MBP that is 5 years old is not worth spending $500 on to fix. That's probably more than the current value of the machine.

Have you tried booting the machine with your original install DVD (assuming Tiger or Leopard) and run some tests? The Apple Hardware Test is a good way to diagnose if the Logic board is at fault.

Well, I'd try doing that except for:

A. The screen won't even come on.
B. My Snow Leopard disc is stuck inside.

I wasn't sure if it would be worth the $350, but then again, if they fix everything that may be wrong with the hardware, couldn't it potentially work great for another few years? Like I said, I wanted to give this to my brother-in-law to take to school. I'd rather we spend the $350 on fixing this than on a ... PC.

iLindzo said:

Well, I'd try doing that except for:

A. The screen won't even come on.
B. My Snow Leopard disc is stuck inside.

I wasn't sure if it would be worth the $350, but then again, if they fix everything that may be wrong with the hardware, couldn't it potentially work great for another few years? Like I said, I wanted to give this to my brother-in-law to take to school. I'd rather we spend the $350 on fixing this than on a ... PC.

Click to expand...

I had exactly those symptoms on an 07 vintage MBP. It was the Logic Board (Graphics to be exact). While I agree with Chscag about the value of your MBP. If you can get a couple more years out of it I would be willing to pay $350.