What to do with an old MacBook laptop

Consider what you want to do with your old MacBook

Does the MacBook still work?

If the MacBook still works, you can choose to upgrade its hardware. This is a great cost-effective way to breathe new life into an old laptop. Sometimes you only need to upgrade a small part of the laptop just for it to work like new again.

If that’s not the case and the MacBook doesn’t work nor turn on at all, you can consider getting it repaired, upgraded, or recycled. It all just depends on what you’d like to do with it.

Repair and upgrade costs

The repair costs of each MacBook can differ. If you only need the hard drive replaced, or you want to put more RAM in, it shouldn’t cost a lot. What you can definitely be sure is, these repairs or upgrade costs won’t cost more than buying a new MacBook laptop.

A new entry-level MacBook Pro costs at least $2000, but if you just put in some useful upgrades to an old MacBook, you might be able to get great performance from it. This is only the case for Mac users who use their laptops for basic stuff like internet browsing and general word processing. If you do more than like, say things like graphics or video editing, then repairing or upgrading this old MacBook would probably be not that useful for yourself. Still, you could get a bit of cash if you upgrade and resell the Mac.

If you don’t want to go through all this hassle, you might as well trade the MacBook in at a computer repair shop. Most computer repair shops do this, so they can refurbish and resell the laptop, or they’ll just take it in for spare parts.

So now you have a few options for your old MacBook: upgrade it for better performance, repair or upgrade to resell it, or recycle the laptop as e-waste. Before you do anything to the Mac, you might want to check the MacBook with Apple Diagnostics, to test for any possible hardware faults. Backing up any important data would also be helpful. You might not be able to do much if the Mac doesn’t turn on or boot up properly, but you could still try it out.

Apple Diagnostics

As a simple hardware testing tool, Apple Diagnostics can help you quickly review your Mac’s hardware. So you can be aware of anything you need to fix up. Sometimes even if the Mac turns on and seems to work well, something could be wrong with it and you might not even be aware of it. It’ll only take a few moments, and could also inform your decision on what you want to do with the Mac.

To start Apple Diagnostics, restart your Mac and press the “D” key to trigger it. After a language selection page, it should automatically start testing your hardware. The test will look into hardware such as the hard drive, battery, and RAM. Any problems found will be reported with some support solutions.

Backing up data

Whether you’re upgrading the MacBook for yourself or to resell, or simply throwing it out, backing up the data on the hard drive is an important step. It’s also a great computing habit to keep, for any of your devices.

You can choose from an external hard drive, or just put it all up in the cloud. This keeps your data safe, and makes the upgrade process much smoother as you won’t have to worry about data loss or recovery.

Useful upgrades to boost your MacBook’s performance

Replacing the hard drive with flash storage

Flash storage, also known as a solid-state drive (SSD), is pretty much the standard on new MacBook models these days. They are much faster and more durable than traditional hard drives (HDD). Performance wise, flash storage can get you speeds up to 16x faster than an HDD.

Replacing a hard drive with flash storage is one of the easier computer repair jobs, so much so that you can even do it yourself. Older MacBooks are often more repair-friendly than the newer ones, so you should manage just fine. Remember to choose a flash storage model that is compatible with macOS, or else the drive might not work.

Adding more RAM for better multitasking functions

RAM (Random-access memory) is essential for even computing performance. Information that you need while you’re working is stored temporarily on the RAM, so it is readily available whenever you need it.

These days for most computer users, the minimum required amount of RAM is 4GB. It should get you through basic computing tasks. The recommended amount of RAM for a relatively smoother experience is at least 8GB.

Adding more RAM to an old Mac could also give you a better performance, for multitasking purposes. So this option could also be a way to refresh your old Mac. Just make sure that your RAM isn’t embedded on the logic board. If that is the case, you might not be able to add RAM capacity to your Mac. You can check this by opening up the Mac and look for where the memory chips are set.

Battery replacement

The battery pack on a MacBook doesn’t have an effect on its performance, but a battery replacement could be beneficial to the Mac’s lifespan.

Laptop batteries can be charged over and over without losing their capacity, but they are still a consumable part. Once it reaches more than 400 charging cycles, the battery can start to fail. It may lose charge, or carry no charge at all. In some more serious cases, these lithium-ion batteries can become extremely volatile and leak hazardous liquid or catch on fire.

So you might want to check the Mac’s battery status to see whether it needs a replacement. You can check this by going to System information, and clicking the battery tab. There you can find the battery charging cycle count. If your Mac’s battery needs replacing, it should show you a warning saying “service battery”, “replace soon”, or “replace now”. Either way, getting a battery replacement for your old MacBook can add to its lifespan substantially.

Recycling or trading in your old MacBook

If you don’t really need the Mac anymore and want to get rid of the clutter in your house, you could consider recycling the laptop as e-waste. Alternatively, you could also trade in at a computer repair shop.

In Australia, e-waste can be recycled for free. Check with your local council to see when the next e-waste drop off days are. Or you can also book a free pick-up service for any of your unwanted electronics. This includes laptops, desktops, and household appliances.

Trading in a laptop at a store could also be an option if you don’t want to go through the trouble of having to list your laptop online yourself. Computer repair shops like us are able to take in old computers for refurbishment or for its spare parts. If you just want to get rid of the Mac quickly and possibly get some cash out of it, then trading in at a computer repair shop is your best bet.

Before you recycle or trade in your old MacBook, make sure you take out the hard drive, or destroy it. That way there’s no chance that others can access your data. Simply take out the hard drive and give it a few whacks with a hammer. Then you can make sure that it’s completely safe to say goodbye to the Mac.

Professional repairs at Safemode Computer Service

Got an old MacBook laptop that you still don’t know what to do with yet? You can take it right down to us. At Safemode Computer Service in Inner West Sydney, we can offer the right advice for your old devices. We can help you access the laptop and see what we can do to suit your needs. If you’d like to trade in the laptop, we also offer tech recycling services. Even if the laptop is beyond repair, certain spare parts might still be viable.

As a trusted computer repair service in Sydney, our friendly technicians are always happy to help with any computer problem that you have, from desktop PCs to MacBook laptops. Come by our Enmore store or call us today!

Don’t flood your head with laptop liquid spill repair hacks

Simple accidents can sometimes cause big problems. Liquid damage can kill your laptop quickly, so you’ll need to act fast to protect it. Whether you’ve spilled your coffee over it, or you’ve left it in the bathroom during a hot shower, liquid damage needs to be dealt with immediately and carefully.

Electronics are extremely prone to liquid damage, even those with some sort of plastic or rubber protective layer. We can’t all own military-grade Toughbooks that are water-proof and incredibly resilient to damage, as they are not sold at consumer prices.

So, having an idea about how to deal with accidental liquid damage on your laptop can help you solve the problem in no time. Otherwise, you’d be desperately looking for answers on the internet while your laptop suffers more damage over this wasted time (you might be doing this now, but we don’t judge👀) . In this guide, we’ll be looking at what you should do when these accidents happen, how liquid spills can hurt different parts of your laptop, and how you can fix liquid damage and how professional computer repairers can help you.

Types of liquid damage

Spilling liquid onto your laptop can result in different levels of damage, depending on the type of liquid and the amount of it. It might just be a splash from a drink, or your laptop could’ve been left out in the rain. Any type of liquid could also cause damage to your laptop, from water to vomit, even. By knowing the culprit behind your laptop damage, we can find the right repair solution for it.

The worst liquids to spill on a laptop

From experience, we understand how different liquids can create all kinds of damage across your device. Of course, vomit would be the first thing that comes to mind when we’re thinking about the worst kind of liquid damage. But more commonly, liquids that are hard to clean off and can corrode components are typically hard to deal with.

The thought of making this list is bizarre, but we’ve put together a list of types of common culprits of liquid damage, from the most manageable to hardest to repair. It goes from water, coffee, soft drinks or juice, wine, sea water and beer. Water, coffee, or tea, does the least damage to internal components, compared to other sugary or corrosive liquids. Water eventually evaporates and does not leave anything behind that needs cleaning. In this case, your laptop may just survive if you are lucky.

Sugary liquids like soft drinks, juice, and red wine are hard to clean off the keyboard and other parts of the laptop. Even when it has dried off, the sugar makes everything sticky and hard to clean.

Sea water and beer are also known to corrode parts of the keyboard and motherboard. The motherboard is composed of many small connecting points and circuits that are susceptible to liquid damage. We know it’s hard to prevent accidents from happening, but knowing how much damage different liquids can make might just help you be more careful around your drinks. Next time you have a beer with your mates, best to stay away from your computers.

What not to do when you’ve gotten your laptop wet

First of all, don’t panic. Panicking usually leads to doing unwanted things in hopes of saving the laptop. Unprofessional treatment of liquid damage can lead to further damage that we surely don’t want.

Some people might look to certain hacks to save their laptop, like submerging the laptop in a tub of uncooked rice. That doesn’t work for the complex components of a laptop, and will even bring dust or starch into the device. Though rice does absorb liquid, we believe many of these liquid spill repair hacks are mostly click-bait. Rice cannot undo what’s already damaged, and the leftover rice in your laptop may even cause more damage to the fan.

Using a hair dryer to dry out the laptop is also something we don’t recommend. The heat generated by the hair dryer can melt the keyboard or warp the motherboard. This makes repairing the laptop from liquid damage even harder. Make sure you’re not making things worse for your laptop, as more unwanted damages could cost you more.

What to do when you’ve gotten your laptop wet

While you might want to clean the liquid off immediately, the first thing you should be doing is to turn it off. Just shut it down by holding down the power button, don’t worry about properly shutting it down. If your working surface is still wet, you should also remove the laptop from the area.

Then you’ll need to disconnect it from power. Disconnect the laptop from the charging cable and remove the battery if you can. Otherwise, just leave it as it is, unplugged. USB drives or other peripherals that can draw power from your laptop should also be unplugged. Keeping yourself safe from a wet electronic device is also something to be aware of. You may also try wiping off any liquid on the laptop’s surface with a lint-free cloth. After this quick damage control process, taking the laptop to a repair shop might also be a good next step.

Certain models of Lenovo laptops have built-in mechanisms that act as a drainage system for liquid spills. Again, the best thing to do with laptop liquid spills is to remove it from its power and get it repaired as soon as you can.

What liquid spills do to your laptop

When liquid gets on your laptop, it can get to different parts of the system. This depends on how much liquid and how long the liquid has been on there.

Keyboard

The keyboard is usually the first to go once liquid gets in. It’ll have to be replaced once it’s damaged. Sometimes it may work after it’s been wet, but the keys are still hard to clean individually. They keys may feel sticky and hard to type with, and trying to clean them individually might break the keys as well.

This is true especially for thin keyboards like Apple’s butterfly keyboard on Macbook Airs and Macbook Pros. Trying to clean the butterfly keyboard on its own might damage other components on the Macbook. So it might be a good idea to get the whole keyboard replaced by a professional.

Motherboard

The motherboard, or logic board for Apple computers, spans across the laptop as its main circuit board. It is located right under the keyboard, where liquids can seep through. This makes it easy for liquids to destroy any part of the motherboard.

Other than overheating, liquid spills are one of the main factors of motherboard failure. When any part of the motherboard is damaged by liquids, it’s likely that your laptop won’t turn on at all. The motherboard is the nerve centre of the computer, so when it is down, other components can’t communicate with each other. Nothing else will work when this happens.

Even if your laptop does turn on and seem to work properly, residue left behind from the spill can create problems for later. These might be sticky sugary residue, or minerals that can escalate corrosion damage on the motherboard. So just because your laptop still works, preventable problems can arise if not dealt with.

Motherboard failures are known to be very difficult to repair as it involves careful navigation among delicate components. Learn more about motherboard failure and how to test for them in our guide to motherboard repairs here.

Hard drive / SSD

Liquid spills can also cause damage if it gets to the hard drive. Whether it is a traditional spinning hard drive or a solid-state drive, once it gets wet, the drive will die immediately. Hard drives store data electronically either on disks or memory chips. When these electronics are damaged, data loss is almost certain in this case.

This is why we always encourage keeping data backups. As data recovery from liquid damage can be very expensive and not worth it, having a backup can keep your data safe from accidents that you can’t prevent.

While keyboard and motherboard failures are pretty apparent after liquid damage, you can’t really test your storage drive when your laptop doesn’t turn on. Should you want to test your hard drive for failure after liquid damage, you can try taking it out and testing it on a desktop computer. Follow our guide to testing a hard drive for issues here.

Battery

Lithium batteries are vulnerable to liquid damage. Even with its outer layer as protection, it can only withstand a certain amount of liquid. You’ll need to replace the damaged battery if any liquid gets inside. Batteries that have been tainted by liquids are extremely unsafe to use.

This is why you have to act quickly to remove the power source from the laptop after any liquid spills. The battery’s outer layer can usually be wiped dry if only a small amount is spilled on the laptop.

What to do when your laptop doesn’t turn on after you’ve spilt on it

If you’ve done everything in your power to save your laptop from further damage, it still might not turn on. It might be time to get help from a professional technician. While a brand authorised service provider might be your first choice to get a free repair while your warranty is still valid, they might not be able to help with liquid damage. Service providers like Apple do not usually offer motherboard replacements after a liquid spill. This sort of accidental damage might not be covered under warranty either.

Let’s face it, often times your warranty will not be able to cover liquid spill damages. If liquid traces are found inside your laptop, your warranty cover has been voided. This may also include liquid damage that you aren’t even aware of.

Manufacturers like Apple use built-in indicators to tell whether liquid has gotten inside the computer. This is a small round white pad that turns red when it comes into contact with any liquid. A small amount of water would make it turn pink. If the indicator has turned red, this means that there was a large amount of water inside the computer. This is how Apple Support can detect the problem with a simple indicator test.

If your device is under Apple Care, you might be able to get repairs done at discounted prices. The good news is that you may be covered by insurance if your policy covers accidental damages. That said, always check with your insurers first.

The other thing you can do, is to bring it to a third party repair service like us, at Safemode Computer Service 👍. We can offer expert liquid spill repairs on your laptop, and replace damaged parts like the keyboard and motherboard.

How do we fix a laptop damaged by liquid spills?

With a dead laptop, we usually can’t test everything on your laptop, even after a motherboard replacement. We can assess the damage from looking at the liquid residue on the keyboard and motherboard, and attempt repairs and replacements on parts of the motherboard. We also replace small components on the laptop, just to make sure we’ve covered all our bases. If it does need a complete replacement of the motherboard and keyboard, we can do that as well.

Liquid spill damage can be unpredictable, and each repair process is different. This depends on the type of liquid and how much damage it has caused on the system. With that said, the repair process can differ in duration and scope of repair. This also affects the cost of each liquid spill damage repair.

For a first-rate repair on your drowned laptop, consider us! We are in Inner West Sydney, a convenient location both from the city and Inner Sydney. Rated highly among computer repair services around Sydney, we can help you with any computer issues. This includes possible data recovery from a dead laptop and motherboard repairs. Got any questions for us? Call us or drop by our Enmore store today.

This HP Pavilion DV6 laptop has been over-heating and recently has broken its bottom casing at the left hand side. Due to the damage, the laptop lid can no longer close.

How To Repair Your Laptop

Since the bottom casing is broken, we will need to replace it. This bottom casing is underneath the laptop’s motherboard, fan, heatsink, screen and everything else so this job won’t be as easy as it sounds like. Get ready to disassemble the whole laptop to replace the bottom cover.

Let’s first remove the laptop keyboard.

Disconnect all ribbon cables that you see here then remove the laptop keyboard cover.

The laptop display panel is attached onto the bottom casing, we will need to take the display unit apart from the bottom casing too.

Now we would have the laptop motherboard in its bottom casing left. Let’s remove the motherboard.

Now the motherboard is removed, take a look at the fan and heatsink units and you’ll see why the bottom casing went broken. We’ll need to remove the fan and heatsink from the board itself, then detach the fan from its heatsink.

The heatsink is completely covered in dust, there is no gap for the heat to go out, this caused over-heating problems with this HP DV6 laptop.

Using a computer brush, air duster and cleaning oil to clean out the heatsink and the laptop fan. This will stop the laptop from over-heating.

To make it even better, we will use electrical tape to wrap around the gap between the heatsink and the fan to stop dust getting into the heatsink.

Now the cleaning is done, we’ll move on to replacing the bottom casing. Let’s take a look at the damaged bottom case.

The left side of the bottom cover is damaged, thus it couldn’t give support to the display panel, which led to the facts that the laptop could not close.

Now make sure to remove the remaining parts from the bottom case too, this includes USB ports, ribbon cables, DC power jack, etc. We will need to fit all of these small parts onto the new bottom cover.

Once that’s done, we are now ready to take out a new bottom cover and reassemble the laptop in reversed order of this guide.

This process should be easier than taking the laptop apart since you’re already familiar with the build of this laptop.

With the new bottom casing, the laptop will now be able to close normally.

Over-heating problem is also fixed for good after we have cleaned out the dust.

Reported Problems:

One of the biggest challenges we have ever done! An Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch A1278 year 2011 laptop was booked in for repairs. The laptop was soaked with water (lots of water, inside a bag) and was no longer booting up.

The Repairs:

This laptop may have suffered multiple water damages. The mission of rescuing this laptop won’t be an easy ride. More than one part will need to be replaced. For this laptop, after extensive testings, we have determined that its logic board, heatsink and screen need to be replaced.

We first have a look inside this laptop.

Now let’s remove the logic board from the computer. Make sure to disconnect other parts first.

Now we can have a look at the logic board.

Testing has confirmed that this logic board is damaged and will need to be replaced. We can now take out a replacement logic board and replace it.

Here we encounter an unexpected problem. This logic board, for some reason, is different from common MacBook Pro A1278 logic boards, it’s nowhere to be found in the market.

Unable to use the common A1278 logic board, we talked to our suppliers to source for an alternative Apple logic board with the same specs.

Now we have the replacement board, installing it brought up another issue. The board’s heatsink was not compatible and had to be replaced too.

Now we have replaced both logic board and heatsink for this MacBook Pro laptop, next is to replace the screen.

Replacing screen for Apple MacBook Pro unibody laptops is never an easy job. The screen is behind a glass cover, replacing the screen means we need to remove the glass cover first. The glass cover is fragile and may break when you attempt to take it out.

Heat up the glass cover with a heat gun and remove it with a suction cup.

Carefully remove the glass cover and make sure not to damage or burn anything underneath.

Have a replacement glass cover in case you broke the original one. Always wear gloves and safety glasses to avoid injuries.

Now we should have access to the screen.

Let’s replace it with a new screen.

With new screen, new logic board, new heatsink installed, the rest of this job is simpler. Reassemble the laptop and test it out.

The laptop turns on fine and booted into Mac OS X normally. Try out other functions such as wireless, keyboard, touchpad to make sure it’s working properly.

All are working perfectly as they should be. Mission accomplished.

Looking for Apple Mac Repairs?

Does your Apple Mac have the same problem? Check our Apple Mac Repair services and Contact us now for a Free Quote. Pickup and Delivery is available for your convenience.

Reported Problems:

An Apple MacBook Air laptop was booked in with keyboard problem.

Owner of the laptop spilled water onto the keyboard of the Mac, since then the keyboard didn’t work properly. Random letters came up when typing. The laptop booted up straight into Safe Boot as if Shift key was engaged.

On this Apple MacBook Air, its keyboard unit is integrated into its aluminium casing. The keyboard is connected to touchpad unit, and touchpad unit is, via a ribbon cable, connected to logic board. Thus the problem may lie within any of these units. Replacing the keyboard unit does NOT guarantee to fix the problem. We have come across a different job (same Apple MacBook Air that had water spilt on) that had the same problem but due to both damaged keyboard and touchpad (demonstrated in another post).

The Repairs:

Using available spare parts and a number of tests, we have determined that the laptop keyboard needs to be replaced.

Let’s first have a look at its bottom cover.

Battery need to be disconnected to stop power going in to the laptop, so let’s take the battery out from the laptop.

There we’ll see logic board, fan and other parts. All these parts need to be removed before keyboard can be taken out.

Take extra precaution here because these electronic parts are sensitive, any “minor” accidental damages can cause great damages to the computer.

Once fan, logic board, wireless adaptor etc are removed from the laptop, we should have the below (speakers not yet removed).

Now let’s take out a same keyboard (integrated in aluminum case).

Different MacBook Air has different keyboard, make sure the part is compatible otherwise it will not fit and will not work.

Now we need to remove the keyboard and bottom casing from the laptop’s display panel. The job is simpler from here. Let’s put in the new keyboard, connect it to the display panel, reassemble the laptop and test it out.

The laptop starts up fine, open TextEdit and check every key.

All the keys are now working as they should. Another Apple MacBook Air laptop fixed successfully.

Looking for Apple Mac Repairs?

Does your Apple Mac have the same problem? Check our Apple Mac Repair services and Contact us now for a Free Quote. Pickup and Delivery is available for your convenience.

Reported Problems:

An Apple MacBook Pro Unibody 13-inch laptop was booked in with a strange problem. The laptop screen has lines sometimes, a blur duplicated image appeared on the screen, and the screen blacks out occasionally.

After a number of testing, we have determined that both of the laptop screen and LED cable must be replaced. Well preparation is the key for this job because this one will require a lot of time, skills and experience. Available spare parts are essential to complete the job right and important for testing.

Let’s remove the laptop bottom cover.

Let’s remove the laptop battery to stop power to the laptop.

Next, we’ve found that the laptop fan has some dust, let’s quickly clean it out. Using cleaning oil will help if necessary. Use a computer brush to clean out the dust.

Now we’ll disconnect LED cable from logic board, disconnect left speakers, then put the laptop to stand on its side.

We will then un-screw both hinges and carefully remove the display panel from bottom casing of the laptop.

Now we’ve got the display panel removed on this MacBook Pro laptop. The most difficult part is not yet to start.

Using a heat-gun, we’ll need to heat up the glass cover on the laptop display, take extra precaution here since over-heating it will cause damages on other parts inside the display. Not enough heat on the other hands will not help.

With a suction-cup, lift the glass cover up separating it from the display. Be careful here because the glass cover is fragile and can break easily if you use too much force. This process sometimes may break the glass cover so always make sure to have a replacement one in case.

Once that’s done, we can now remove the laptop screen and pull out its LED cable.

Check the screen details, make sure that you have a compatible screen and LED cable. Install the new screen and connect new LED cable.

Follow the same steps in reversed order to reassemble the laptop.

Now we’ve got an Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch A1278 laptop with new screen, new glass cover (if replaced), new LED cable, with internal fan cleaned. Let’s test it out.

So far so good, the problem is fixed and the laptop is working well.

Apple MacBook Pro laptops are designed differently comparing to others, replacing screen on these MACs requires a lot more work to be done.

Looking for Apple Mac Repairs?

Does your Apple Mac have the same problem? Check our Apple Mac Repair services and Contact us now for a Free Quote. Pickup and Delivery is available for your convenience.