Apple Macbook Repairs: DIY vs professional repairer

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surfisup1000

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#148518 21-Jun-2014 15:40

Macbook pro 15" retina display was damaged by a pebble.

Insurance company repairer said it would cost $2500 to repair so I took the money and bought a new one.

But, insurance company gave me back the damaged one.

Thought I'd have a crack at fixing the old one . Went onto ebay, bought a new display assembly for $230NZD (new, perfect condition except for 2 barely visible scratches on back).

Display assembly arrived, followed the ifixit guide, and presto, totally fixed, perfect display, wifi/camera still working just fine.

Just a bit surprised that I could do this for less than 10% of the pros price.

With respect to the repair itself -- i heard macs were notoriously difficult but I found it really easy as everything disassembled very easily (compared to my lenovo T400 where things didn't snap back into place quite so easily).

Also, I found 3 assembly mistakes in my unit :) Although, 2 of them could have been done the last time it was in for warranty repairs.

gzt

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#1071749 21-Jun-2014 16:02

Cool story. How much was a brand new display assembly from Apple?

surfisup1000

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#1071756 21-Jun-2014 16:09

gzt: Cool story. How much was a brand new display assembly from Apple?

Well the one from ebay was $230 and unused -- 2 scratches on the back (barely visible) rendered this as "B" stock.

The price from apple for a perfect display with no scratches -- who knows. I'm guessing maybe $800.

blakamin

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#1071759 21-Jun-2014 16:15

2 for the price of 1... score!

gehenna

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#1071763 21-Jun-2014 16:19

Even with parts and labour I can't see how replacing a display, through official channels, would come anywhere near $2500. That's a completely ridiculous price. Either the repairer or insurance company, or both, are having a laugh.

EDIT: by the way, how old is the MacBook?

CYaBro

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#1071816 21-Jun-2014 17:40

You'd be surprised how much genuine Apple parts actually cost.
Even generic parts like hard drives and RAM are about 4x the normal price you'd find in a big box store (so more than what you'd find it for on Pricespy.)

gehenna

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#1071818 21-Jun-2014 17:43

I've been repairing Mac's since 2003, and I've never seen a display cost that much to replace - genuine or not.

surfisup1000

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#1072078 22-Jun-2014 15:47

gehenna: Even with parts and labour I can't see how replacing a display, through official channels, would come anywhere near $2500. That's a completely ridiculous price. Either the repairer or insurance company, or both, are having a laugh.

EDIT: by the way, how old is the MacBook?

Thats what I don't get. How on earth could their repairer quote such a massive amount!! I was wondering if they just jacked up the price given it was an insurance job.

The macbook was the top 2.6ghz 512gb HDD 15" model from mid 2012, so , just under 2 years old.

gzt

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#1072080 22-Jun-2014 15:55

What was the retail price for that model?

gehenna

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#1072083 22-Jun-2014 16:10

Probably around $3000 for that one.

gzt

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#1072116 22-Jun-2014 17:29

I have no experience with Apple parts but it would not surprise me if the retail on the retina panel was 2/3 + of the new machine price.

surfisup1000

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#1072139 22-Jun-2014 18:20

gzt: What was the retail price for that model?

$4500.

gzt

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#1072143 22-Jun-2014 18:31

Ok, in that context a retail retina panel price at 50% of the total cost of the machine is not surprising at all. There is a perfect condition 2nd hand one on iFixit for $899 ; ).

josephhinvest

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#1072166 22-Jun-2014 19:15

Perhaps if it was a quote for insurance, the top case would have been quoted too. The outright buy price from Apple can be shockingly high, and the labour for rebuilding a machine in full would probably be two hours etc. The quote doesn't seen outrageous to me (I was an ACMT apple tech for 7 years).

Cheers,
Joseph

Peppery

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#1072194 22-Jun-2014 19:49

I manage a third party repairer focusing on Apple with a few retail locations in Auckland CBD (not hard to figure out who). We deal with a lot of insurance companies very regularly. Some branches of them are very, very picky about what they repair - a few scratches are unacceptable to them so a lot more needs to be replaced. We have a few huge companies that we handle their iPhones and they typically don't care nearly as much. Of course it'll always be cheaper doing it yourself considering we have rent, staffing, etc and then have to make a profit at the end of the day.

My personal laptop is a family friend's 15" Retina 2012 that suffered liquid damage, insurer replaced it fully and didn't want it back after replacement so they gave it to me and I fixed it up for myself. :)

MikeB4

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#1072197 22-Jun-2014 19:55

I had a similar problem, I just used the Notebook with an external monitor for a year. My son now uses it as a media PC.

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

He waka eke noa