I spilled a glass of water on my macbook and now my logic board is fried.

On Monday, three nights ago, I spilled a glass of water on my keyboard. I have a 2009 Macbook. I went to the Apple store and the guy said my logic board is now unusable. It costs 750 to repair it. Is there anyway I can get a new logic board and have it replaced for cheaper? Any other suggestions?

kzapp said:

On Monday, three nights ago, I spilled a glass of water on my keyboard. I have a 2009 Macbook. I went to the Apple store and the guy said my logic board is now unusable. It costs 750 to repair it. Is there anyway I can get a new logic board and have it replaced for cheaper? Any other suggestions?

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If you can do the repair/replacement work yourself...then you could do it for $499-$549...depending in what logic board you need:

MacBook 13" Early 2009 Parts - iFixit

If you cannot do it yourself...then $499-$549 + labor gets you close to the Apple price of $750. If you can find a used logic board on e-Bay...then you would probably be in better $$$ shape.

NO BEVERAGES AROUND LAPTOPS!!!

- Nick

My advice: Sell it for parts on eBay or Craig's list. Use the money you get from the sales to purchase a refurbished machine from Apple. Even if you do the repairs yourself it's going to cost quite a bit (as Nick pointed out) and that's no guaranty that you won't have trouble with the machine in the future. Spills have a way of coming back to haunt you. (no Halloween pun intended)

chscag said:

My advice: Sell it for parts on eBay or Craig's list. Use the money you get from the sales to purchase a refurbished machine from Apple.

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Agreed! No point putting $500-$750 into a computer that's probably worth approx. $800 (or maybe less).

- Nick

How much do you think I should start the bidding for on a laptop with a damaged logic board? The case and display are in great shape. I found a variety of prices on Ebay. Also, I took the hard drive out, do you think it would be worth the money to have it cleared and put back in the machine?

The hard drive may be okay. Can you install it in another MB and see? If not, it is not worth the cost of using professional data recovery services as these can run into thousands.

Start bidding at $50 for the MB. Better to get it up and running than starting at say $200 and attracting no bids. Sure you do not need to be told keep liquids of all types away from the new computer!

Most household insurance policies will cover accidental damage such as this, I know ours does so you have your answer, make a claim and wait for the insurance company to deliver a shiny new replacement to your door.

Fingers crossed!

Most household insurance policies will cover accidental damage such as this, I know ours does so you have your answer, make a claim and wait for the insurance company to deliver a shiny new replacement to your door.

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And... most household insurance policies have a deductible. Here in Texas it's almost impossible to purchase homeowner's insurance that does not have at least a 1% deductible.

chscag said:

And... most household insurance policies have a deductible. Here in Texas it's almost impossible to purchase homeowner's insurance that does not have at least a 1% deductible.

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And for those folks who are "math challenged" (not you chscag)...a 1% deductible on a modest $250,000 home is $2,500 bucks. A lot more than most Apple laptops folks own...and certainly more than the OP's notebook.

- Nick