ibook optical drive replacment

I recently took apart my ibook after taking it to apple to be repaired and was told that the damage was accidental (liquid spilt on keyboard and got onto mobo and cd drive) and would cost $700. So I declinded repair and decided to take on the repair myself, I'm pretty comfortable with taking apart my ibook so I did and when i got to the optical drive I unscrewed all the screws etc. and started to remove the optical drive but it was still holding on to something. I don't know what it is and haven't been able to find a detailed breakdown of the replacement of an optical drive or an apple technician's manual to go by, also I saw a MCE dvd burner upgrade on google and was wondering if anyone had done this and sent their ibook to MCE to have their cd burner upgraded and if its worth the $350 bucks plus labor charges?

i looked on their website the other day, isnt it that i they offer a full year's warranty with the upgrade? cant be sure though.

I was looking for someone who has taken apart their ibook and removed the optical drive themselves or someone who knows the breakdown of an ibook or who has had the dvd burner upgrade done to their ibook.

jdscott said:

I recently took apart my ibook after taking it to apple to be repaired and was told that the damage was accidental (liquid spilt on keyboard and got onto mobo and cd drive) and would cost $700. So I declinded repair and decided to take on the repair myself, I'm pretty comfortable with taking apart my ibook so I did and when i got to the optical drive I unscrewed all the screws etc. and started to remove the optical drive but it was still holding on to something. I don't know what it is and haven't been able to find a detailed breakdown of the replacement of an optical drive or an apple technician's manual to go by, also I saw a MCE dvd burner upgrade on google and was wondering if anyone had done this and sent their ibook to MCE to have their cd burner upgraded and if its worth the $350 bucks plus labor charges?

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I just sent my iBook to MCE. The website said that they dont charge for the labor but they do charge for the postage, however you want them to send it back to you. Also, they take your optical drive as payment i guess for the labor. If the drive isn't working they charge you 50 dollars.

this is an excerpt off the product page:

"Although MCE Technologies does not charge a fee for installing the upgrade(s) into the computer, we do charge a shipping fee for sending the computer via FedEx back to the customer. The listed price of the drive is based on the exchange of the iBook's current internal optical drive (that must be in good working condition) and it will not be returned to you. If you do not wish to exchange your original internal optical drive and request that we return it, or the drive is not in good working condition, then the price for the upgrade drive will be an additional $50. Order online here only if you will be sending your computer to the MCE Service Center in Irvine, California for installation (see instructions below for sending your computer to the MCE Service Center)."