What Do You Do When Your Mac Breaks Down and Warranty Has Lapsed

Several people I know contacted me recently. They were having problems with their Macs and asked for advice. One had a broken LCD and another was having trouble with her trackpad and keyboard. It would later be diagnosed as a logic board problem. These two people have one thing in common, their Macs could not be covered by warranty. The LCD problem was not a factory defect. The owner accidentally sat on his MacBook. The one with the logic board problem was out of the 1 year standard warranty period.

When this happens it really sucks. Most components of your portable are quite expensive if you but it from Apple. So it’s really not a joking matter.

First thing to do is bring it to an Apple Certified Service Provider. If you have an Apple Store near you then better, bring it there. Have your machine diagnosed, unless it’s glaringly obvious what the problem is. A cracked LCD is quite obvious. Still it would be good for you to bring it. Have the whole unit looked at and get a part estimate. This is good for several things. One you can gauge how much Apple will charge for it. If you can afford it and think it’s reasonable then that’s good. If not at least you know what part to look for.

You can check eBay for parts. A lot of people are selling spare parts via eBay. You might be able to get a good deal there. Mac User forums are also a good place to look. Sometimes people post parts for sale. It’s true in the Mac User Group I belong to.

Then there are the web sites that sell parts for your Macs. Sites such as All Mac and iFixit. These are good places to find spare parts for your Mac.

When all else fails or you’re just too lazy to have your Mac fixed, you can try to sell it for parts and go buy yourself a new one. This time remember not to let the warranty lapse and go get yourself the extended warranty.