Laptop repair

[uofaflamesfan]

Does anyone have some recommendations of where to go to for a getting a laptop repaired from water damage?

My friend was recently travelling overseas and spilled tea all over her new Macbook and the thing is basically toast. She took it into one place over there and they quoted her $700. This was too expensive while she was travelling but now she's back home and would like to find something a bit cheaper.

Is this what reasonable for what it is going to cost? Or is it worth looking around for a good deal?

[Hack&Lube]

Was the macbook on when she spilled tea on it? Tell her to take it apart and put it inside a bag of rice for a week to draw out the moisture.

Aside from that, $700 is probably reasonable depending on the damage + labor costs. It depends on what's wrong. If the motherboard is fried, it could be quite expensive. A new macbook pro motherboard costs $600 itself on ebay.

[uofaflamesfan]

It was on. She quickly turned it off and let it dry for a couple days. After that she turned it on and said it barely worked, keyboard wouldnt function. I assume it still wasnt dry enough and some things got shorted.

Its just the regular 13.3 Macbook, which you can buy for $1000, does that and the Macbook Pro use the same mobo?

[Rathji]

Did she pull the battery and unplug it or just shut it off?

Not that it really matters I guess, most of the damage was probably done as soon as the liquid hit the pcb.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by uofaflamesfan

It was on. She quickly turned it off and let it dry for a couple days. After that she turned it on and said it barely worked, keyboard wouldnt function. I assume it still wasnt dry enough and some things got shorted.

Its just the regular 13.3 Macbook, which you can buy for $1000, does that and the Macbook Pro use the same mobo?

Moisture won't leave electronics just by leaving them to dry in open air, only the outside dries and the inside starts to rust or shorts as soon as power is fed back in. That's why you need to put them in a bag of rice or something to draw the moisture out.

What is not working well? It may just be that the keyboard traces are shorted out and you might just need to take it apart and clean it or replace the whole keyboard which is inexpensive.

The thing is that you never know what the problem is until you open it and unless you do it yourself, it will cost you. Motherboards cost $300-$600 on ebay which is around the base cost to whoever repairs it plus labor I guess. Unfortunately I don't know anybody or any sites to recommend to you that do these things as I always try to fix stuff myself.