Evaluating Value of Broken Laptop

[ArkiStan]

As you saw from this thread, my friend spilled a bit of coffee on his laptop and the screen isn't working anymore. After visiting numerous repair shops, he's decided it's not worth the repair cost ($1200 minimum) and wants to sell it for parts. We both are not familiar with hardware at all and have no idea what to expect for the parts. Help us negotiate.

The computer store's diagnosis says a small amount of coffee got to the graphics processor on the logic board (motherboard). The screen is no longer working and an External monitor will not work either. But other than that, the computer turns on and seems to run. The hard drive has been taken out to save the data. He bought the machine for $2000 about a year and a half ago.

Specs:
* 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4 MB shared L2 cache, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
* 2 GB RAM (two SO-DIMM) 677 MHz DDR2 SD-RAM (PC2-5300) --> paid $150 to upgrade to 4GB
* 120 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive (was taken out to retreivd the data and was reinstalled)
* slot load 8x Super Drive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW
* 1 FireWire 400 port, 1 FireWire 800 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard/34 slot, DVI output with support for VGA
* Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit); built-in 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme (802.11n); built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
* 15.4-inch (diagonal), 1440 by 900 resolution, Matte TFT LED widescreen display with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 128MB graphics processor (the graphics processor seems dead, but wouldn't the LED LCD screen itself be completely fine since it didn't get directly wet?)

I know it's hard to tell without a further diagnosis of the exact problem, but considering the above, what would be a good starting price to sell the computer parts for? A rough estimate is fine.

[nate el bueno]

My 2 cents would be to look into replacing the graphics chip. From what I understand, you should be able to get video after that. An 8600 isn't a bad card. If you could get an external display to work, this machine would function as a desktop. It certainly has the power to. I could see it going for at 600 ish after that?

[ArkiStan]

My 2 cents would be to look into replacing the graphics chip. From what I understand, you should be able to get video after that. An 8600 isn't a bad card. If you could get an external display to work, this machine would function as a desktop. It certainly has the power to. I could see it going for at 600 ish after that?

well, if he can get the graphics chip replaced the computer might actually work like normal and he wouldn't have to sell it at all. interestingly, every single repair shop wouldn't allow him to just replace just the graphics chip. every store had a strict policy that requires that he replace the whole motherboard for all spill-caused incidents. i'm guessing it's because they don't know exactly how bad the actual damage is and unless they do a complete overhaul, other problems might appear later on and people will come back complaining that the repair was unsuccessful. and of course it's a great way for them to increase the repair costs, too.

maybe one of those independent repair men on craigslist will be able to change just the graphics chip.

[DarkFury]

Honestly, a busted laptop has very little residual value IMHO. I've never tried to sell one, but from looking at them, other than salvaging the RAM chips and the hard drive, I just don't see much else in there that would be of much value as "spare parts" (not saying that it is not valuable... but laptops just aren't very "user serviceable friendly". )

[renovation]

to replace a video chip on a laptop 95 % of the time your talking a whole new motherboard . not many can you even find the chip avail and with all the soldering required you toast the board .
the unit im guessing maybe $200-$300 i check out e-bay and see what if any are listed for .

[ArkiStan]

man that sucks. he was hoping to get a couple hundred for the LED screen alone. oh well. i'm checking on ebay now. thanks.

[Cubsfan]

I'd check around ebay. You never know if there's someone out there with the same laptop who chucked a wiimote through their screen or something.

As far as the motherboard --> completely toast. Graphics is all integrated. However, before you throw it away let me know. I'd like the processor if you're just going to throw it away. Not much use, except I collect older processors.

[attgig]

when did he buy it? is it too late for him to buy applecare?
or see if his creditcard he bought it with would cover the cost for it.

My gf's macbook wouldn't power on about a year & 1 month after she bought it through my cc (amex blue) and I brought it to the apple store. they said it would cost 300 bucks to fix anything that may be wrong with the computer.
I called amex blue, and they covered the cost of fixing it.
that was total score.


but yeah, seeing as this is a macbook pro, and if he has to sell it, I would ask for as detailed of a problem report from the apple store, and to sell it off with that description. If they're pretty sure, it's the mainboard that needs to be replaced, and it would work properly afterwards, you might be able to get 500 or so bucks off of it.

[ArkiStan]

when did he buy it? is it too late for him to buy applecare?
or see if his creditcard he bought it with would cover the cost for it.

My gf's macbook wouldn't power on about a year & 1 month after she bought it through my cc (amex blue) and I brought it to the apple store. they said it would cost 300 bucks to fix anything that may be wrong with the computer.
I called amex blue, and they covered the cost of fixing it.
that was total score.


but yeah, seeing as this is a macbook pro, and if he has to sell it, I would ask for as detailed of a problem report from the apple store, and to sell it off with that description. If they're pretty sure, it's the mainboard that needs to be replaced, and it would work properly afterwards, you might be able to get 500 or so bucks off of it.

He did have apple care, but we found out that it doesn't cover spill-related incidents. their policy is that for spills, the only repair they can do is to replace the whole motherboard for a $1200 minimum cost + additional parts. I'll see if he got a detailed report from the apple store people. that'll help for sure.

[nate el bueno]

The 8600 has been and continues to be a fairly popular laptop video card for the higher end segment. If the laptop uses the mxm slot, it should be a lot easier. Here's an example of one for sale. I didn't scour around; I just wanted to make sure they're available. This ones probably one of the more expensive ones. I'm pretty sure you could get one for less.
http://cgi.ebay.com/MXM-Graphics-Car...QQcmdZViewItem