It pays to get a second opinion from MacMedics when you’ve been quoted an expensive Macintosh repair elsewhere. Repair costs on all modern Apple products are up, as more and more technology has been crammed onto the logic board and other major parts.

Case in point, a nice lady brought in her G5 iMac to sell to us for parts. We had close 10 people in the lab when she came in, so we did not get much of a chance to talk to her. She had said she wanted to drop the unit not for repair, but for us to buy it for parts and that it had a bad logic board. We got a call from her a few days later to see what we had found out. When she rang in on the phone, I had a chance to get some more details from her. We talked about the leaking capacitor issue, and I wondered if that might be her issue. Turns out, that she had the unit looked at by another Apple Authorized Service Provider, who convinced her she needed a new machine. Sound familiar? She really could not tell me too much about the issue, so I told her I would look at the iMac personally and call her back later that day.

First thing I noticed was that the unit did not power on. It was stone dead. Not always a symptom of a logic board, so I’m thinking that trying a power supply might be wise. Sure enough, I put in one of our test iMac power supplies (we keep all types in stock for just this reason). The unit worked great and passed all Apple Service Diagnostics.

So this story has a happy ending. MacMedics was able to bring a sick unit back to life for about a quarter of the cost of a new logic board. Client was happy to save some serious money and keep the unit for a few more years. The other cool thing about having your Mac serviced here at MacMedics is we offer a full one year warranty on all repairs NOT covered by Apple’s warranty.

Many service places (some Apple Authorized and some not) often take the worse case scenario approach and start thinking about the worse possible problem. Here at MacMedics we take a “bottom up” service approach, where we look for all the small things first, and work our way up to the larger items. This is why folks have been coming back to MacMedics for over 20 years. We are fanatical about providing the very best Mac service and support. We are also absolutely thinking ultimate precision when we take your unit apart and then put it back together. Apple computers are made to have very tight cases and close fitting precision parts.

We’ve blogged about this before. Read some of our posts on Macintosh service quality.

Nobody likes to see a broken Macintosh laptop LCD, especially us. We love Macs, so we don’t like to see them hurt and broken after a bad drop or other unfortunate incident. Replacing the MacBook LCD can be an expensive repair when you seek help from Apple. When having your MacBook serviced by the Apple Store or Apple Depot service, they will require you to also fix any other case damage that may also be damaged due to the incident that broke the screen in the first place. Also, if your unit suffered some past minor liquid damage that did not end up causing any problems with the unit, but let a trace, Apple will also require you have that repaired as well. Another factor is that when working with Apple Service, you cannot “exchange” a physically “broken” or “cracked” LCD panel. If you choose to have the repair handled by Apple you will have to purchase the LCD service part outright, which means that there is no “credit” given for the “defective” part.

MacMedics offers a flat-rate discounted LCD replacement service for the Black and White MacBook screens for $349. We’ll replace your broken or non-working) MacBook LCD with an OEM part, and return it to you as quickly as possible. If your MacBook has case issues or other problems associated with the broken LCD we’ll work with you to find the best solution for fixing those issues as well. Best of all if our replacement LCD screen has a problem it’s covered by our MacMedics full one-year warranty. (Fine print: we won’t replace the LCD if it’s been broken a 2nd time, so let’s be careful out there!)

Lots of companies are now jumping on the Mac service band wagon. When you have a major Mac service service need like an LCD or logic board, please consider that MacMedics is the regional leader in the Baltimore-Washington area for Apple Macintosh sales and service. We pioneered on-site Macintosh service, and our in-lab service is also highly regarded and award winning. Macintosh computers are highly engineered and as such they often have very small parts, various sized screws, and very tight fittings cases. All three of these things frequently trip up firms that are NOT specialized in Mac service. (see our blog post about how a big box store fried a perfectly good working iBook) We frequently see computers after they have already been someplace else and NOT properly serviced. MacMedics is an Apple Authorized Service Provider and we’ve been fixing only Macs for over 20 years. So, before you ship your beloved laptop (or desktop) to places unknown, consider sending it to MacMedics. Also, all non-warranty Apple repairs are covered by our no hassle 1-year MacMedics warranty. If it fails, we fix it free.

Most MacBook LCD repairs are completed within 24-hours, which is impossible to accomplish if you send your MacBook to the West Coast for service. Also, be sure to read our Blog post about a MacBook that we worked on recently that had been to a mail-in depot repair center.

Ship your unit into us, or drop it off and for a limited time we’ll send it back to you via Fedex standard air shipping free of charge.

Add a 7200 RPM 500 GB hard drive to any MacBook or MacBook Pro LCD replacement service for just $159 which includes a bit by bit clone copy of your data. When you get your unit back, your data will be in just the same place you left it. Also, your old drive is yours, so we’ll return that as part of the service, or we can make it into a portable back up drive for $40.

MacMedics is now also offering Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S service and repair in our Millersville, Maryland office. Got a cracked screen or LCD?? Don’t pay Apple $199 to get it fixed! Come see us and we’ll take care of your iPhone 3G for $89.95 or your iPhone 3G S for $99.95. Most repairs are completed SAME-DAY, and best of all, NO LINES here at MacMedics.

If you’re a loyal Apple hardware buyer, you most likely know about AppleCare. Chances are you’re like me and after plunking down $2000 on a new MacBook Pro, maybe you held off on also buying AppleCare. What you might not know is that you can buy AppleCare anytime within the first year of ownership and get an extra two years of Apple warranty coverage. AppleCare also entitles you to free phone support from Apple for more than just the first 90 days of ownership.

AppleCare is also available for iPods. You can double the Apple factory warranty to two years by enrolling. Considering that AppleCare is $59 for all of the more expensive iPods, it’s a good bet. Any iPod repair needed within 2 years will make your $59 investment totally worthwhile.

We commonly see MacMedics customers (and other folks from all over) who bought their Mac elsewhere, and either opted to buy AppleCare at a later date or were never informed it was an option at the time of purchase. So as long as you’ve not hit your 1-year purchase anniversary yet, you can can still enroll your computer in AppleCare. You could rush to the Apple Store or buy on-line and fuss with getting retroactively enrolled after your paperwork comes in the mail, or you can call MacMedics (or e-mail us) for the same price as Apple, we’ll enroll your Mac in AppleCare instantly and e-mail you the paperwork that contains your AppleCare number. Once you go past the 1-year warranty, there is no way to retroactively buy AppleCare. If you never registered your computer, or did so late, it’s possible that Apple has the wrong info on when you actually bought your computer. If you can prove your computer was purchased less than one year ago, you can still buy AppleCare. Apple’s serial number information uses the Mac’s “Born on date” to give pretty good guess on the Mac’s warranty. It’s very likely that your purchase date could be as mcsh as a month after this date if your Mac was in the channel for a long time, or sat on the shelf for a while before you bought it. Check your paperwork to be sure, and do so quickly before you give up on buying the extended warranty.

I recommend AppleCare for all Apple computers, Especially laptops, where the service parts are more expensive and you also have a power adaptor that can fail. If you have ANY hardware repair performed under the AppleCare warranty it’s totally worth the investment. We have it on all of our computers here at MacMedics, and it’s been worthwhile for us.

Pay on-line right here, and we’ll e-mail you to get your computer’s serial number as soon as your order reaches us. Use the coupon code “AppleCare” on Google Checkout and we’ll take $10 off your AppleCare purchase over $149.

If you’re right at the deadline to buy, please also call us at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS if you don’t hear from us via e-mail within a few minutes of your order. We’re also happy to handle your enrollment via a phone call, if you’d rather not buy on-line. Just give us a call and we’ll take care of it right on the spot.

Don’t forget that MacMedics can also honor your AppleCare warranty or your Apple factory 1-year warranty. We can offer some distinct advantages versus visiting the Apple Store.

1. No appointment is needed when you bring your computer in. Just drop it off anytime.
2. Both of our walk-in service locations (MacMedics in Lanham, MD & MacMedics in Millersville, MD) are less then 10 steps from your parking spot. This means no lugging your iMac, G5 or Mac Pro through the mall, in fact if you’ve got something that’s a bit heavy or awkward, just come get us and we’ll carry it in for you!
3. MacMedics is fast! We try to have any needed warranty parts on order the same day you check in. We also have many commonly used service parts in stock (like laptop power ports, top cases, keyboards, Superdrives, power adaptors, and all types of hard drives and memory).
4. We’re absolutely fanatical about ensuring your unit is correctly repaired and properly reassembled. See our blog post regarding service obtained elsewhere.
5. Not located near an Apple Authorized Service Provider? You can ship us your unit yourself, or get in touch with us on details on how we can pick it up from you.

1/18/09 UPDATE: We’d like to thank the hundreds of of people who have taken action based on this blog post. MacMedics recommends AppleCare for all Macs, and our new web page and instant enrollment has been super successful. If you’re still on the sidelines wondering when you should buy AppleCare, take action now! Macs are super reliable, but you never know what could happen. With logic boards and many other major parts costing hundreds of dollars, AppleCare could cover it all for you. Use it one time, and you’ve made your investment back. See our post about an $800 logic board repair. As we mentioned above, MacMedics buys AppleCare for all of our loaner, rental, and support equipment. With a laptop where you have an external power supply, you are very likely to have to replace your adaptor within three years. If you end up doing so, that’s $80 back on your investment. Wanna’ talk about AppleCare and why we recommend it more? Just give us call at 1-866-MAC-MEDICS we can enroll your Mac(s) on the spot. Again, don’t wait until your 1-year factory warranty runs out!