Not the fine motor skills I was hoping for
December 20, 2018 10:17 AM   Subscribe

My baby just dumped a glass of water on my MacBook. Oh my god please help me plan my next steps.

I immediately turned it off, flipped it over and dried it. It is now chilling upside down on a bed of rice (and I am strangely jealous). I am flustered and need some help being an adult.

1. It’s no longer get under warranty (purchased in 2011, so no spring chicken). I assume first step is take to Apple store to see if it can be fixed. But when do I do that? Now? After it has dried out more?

2. Assuming the absolute worst and the thing is toast, what is my best option? I wasn’t planning on buying a new computer, but I may be stuck here. I did a time machine back up a couple months ago, and frankly haven’t created many new files since nice so I think that most of my important stuff is backed up. But how do I get those files over to a new machine without dragging a lot of detritus that I have picked up along the way?

3. Finally, what should I do? Is an expensive repair worth it? What is a reasonable threshold for deciding whether to repair or replace ( if that’s even an option?). And what should I replace it with?

Sorry for this frazzled cry for help. I’ve got a wailing baby and a soaked computer and I just really want to pour myself a tumbler of brandy. (but I won’t because that is irresponsible. I’ll wait til daddy’s home to do that. )
posted by Mrs. Rattery to Computers & Internet (16 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bad news: Apple's "water damage" repair is one-price-fits-all, regardless of the actual nature of the damage, and it is expensive! For my wife's 2017 15" MacBook Pro, they wanted more than $1500 to fix water damage. I think their assumption is that the logic board always needs to be replaced.

Good news: We left it in a sealed tub of rice for a few weeks and it is now back to normal. Don't give up hope yet.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:32 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Assume that even if your computer can be coaxed back to life, the water bath will have doomed it to catastrophic failure at some unpredictable future moment. It was nine years old. This is how it ends. It's time for a new computer.

What did the time machine thing back up to? Some external drive? If so, and you're not concerned about recovering whatever files may have been created between the last backup and now, then file recovery is the easy part. You may or may not get detritus, depending on how this particular backup scheme works, but this, at least, is one part of this accident that you should expressly grant yourself permission to not stress about.

I would give it a nice long interment in the rice, preferably completely covered and in a sealed Tupperware sarcophagus. Let it stay in there longer than you think you need to. If it can boot up again, do a curated backup of your most important/newer files, then a full backup with time machine or whatever, and then do whatever else you need to do with it before you replace it with a new computer. Then have another brandy.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:34 AM on December 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Don't panic! It might be toast, but it might be OK.

1) Even if it were still under warranty, a water spill would typically void that warranty right then and there. You did a good job turning it off immediately and flipping it over. I would keep it inverted on the bed of rice for a few days, if you can.

2 & 3) WAIT A FEW DAYS. You really want that water to be fully evaporated. Then try to turn it back on. If it doesn't turn on, take to the Apple (or a certified repair place) and see what they can do. They might at least be able to get the hard drive out (if it hasn't failed, but it probably didn't) and save your stuff for you. They'll have the best advice on what to do after, but if it's toast, obviously you'll need a new computer! There are good refurbished ones available at a decent discount.

Also, please have one tumbler of brandy. It'll be fine.
posted by ancient star at 10:34 AM on December 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Yes, sorry, backed up to an external hard drive, thank god.

Also, good point on the baby warranty. We are a week shy of six months so I figure we can at least get store credit?
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 10:45 AM on December 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Best answer: Finally, what should I do? Is an expensive repair worth it? What is a reasonable threshold for deciding whether to repair or replace ( if that’s even an option?). And what should I replace it with?

An expensive repair is not worth it for a computer that age. When my niece spilled tea on a Mac of similar age last year, Apple told me they didn't even stock repair parts for it anymore. You'd be looking at a third party repair, probably with a refurbished logic board. You should assume the logic board is probably a ballpark price of $400 (± $50?), not counting the labor to replace it. A 2011 vintage computer is around six processor generations ago, so you're missing out on improvements in performance and battery life. I would not spend that money on repair. It's possible a third party shop could remove the storage from it, but if you have a recent enough backup and/or had your files in the cloud even that shouldn't be necessary.

I'd just buy whatever new Mac meets your size and weight requirements. I wouldn't buy the old MacBook Air, but the new one with the Retina screen looks quite nice. If you want to buy used, 2015 MacBook Pro models should be a sweet spot for performance (I'm typing this on one I bought new in 2015 and it's still acceptably fast). Apple still sold them "new" until July of this year, and 2015 models have a small cult following because they're the last models that still have the older keyboard design instead of the new and much-loathed butterfly keyboard. Since there are 2015 models that are really three years old, and 2015 models sold in 2018, you should research the warranty history of a used one before you buy it so you're sure of its actual age and remaining lifespan. I just had to replace the battery in mine, but that's the only issue I've had with it in three and a half years.
posted by fedward at 11:04 AM on December 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


The drying powers of rice are quite overrated by Internet folklore. According to this article, it works OK for phones maybe, but not so well for laptops. I'd go with the fan/towel/crate setup they illustrate.
posted by thelonius at 11:14 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


If you want it repaired, do not turn it on and send it to

these guys.

Apple will just tell you to replace the laptop (refuse to repair entirely), or charge you more than the laptop is worth (probably more than a new macbook) to repair. Even if it was simple issue like an unplugged cable, they will tell you it is more damaged than it is and try to get you to spend ridiculous amounts of money or buy a new computer.Most repair shops will not be equipped to handle this sort of damage, not really anyway, but the above business is a well-known repair shop (due to youtube) that actually replaces logic board components, which will be required with water damage most likely. I can't vouch for them personally, but they seem good and are well-known and featured on other well-known tech channels like Linus Tech Tips (and have been in the news due to advocating for "right to repair" legislation, and exposing Apple business practices as in the above link).
posted by hypercomplexsimplicity at 11:26 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah, keep it completely powered down for a few days to allow time for all the moisture to evaporate. Then, turn it on. If it works--great! if it doesn't--there is literally no reason to put any money into an eight-year-old laptop.
posted by Automocar at 11:38 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Oh, and Ishould have mentioned this first:

Rice does absolutely NOTHING. It will not fix your computer, that video will explain. The proper thing to do us take the motherboard out and put it in an ultrasonic cleaner. I assume you don't have one of those or desire to purchase and use one, so send it to the guy in the video.
posted by hypercomplexsimplicity at 11:38 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


A hair drier turned to low pointed at the device is also a good step. It will help dry out the air and make it dry faster.
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:38 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Can personally vouch for the Rossmann Repair Group -- not specifically for water damage, but they've done excellent work on an MBP of similar vintage. It may make more financial sense to replace, but they're quite honest and should give you a quote.
posted by halation at 11:46 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


The internet folklorists vs professional repairers debate over the power of rice is surely an interesting one, but plenty of us have witnessed firsthand devices that were completely submerged in water and would not power up resurrected after a long repose in a deep bed of jasmine rice.

It's entirely possible that the drying-out that allowed these devices to boot back up had nothing to do with the rice, but the ricing process serves as a ritual and a reminder to give that device the time it needs to fully dry. So I would not be quick to dismiss the usefulness of rice just because somebody on the internet can "well, actually" you about it.

that 3DS that fell in the toilet still works five years later. I believe in rice.
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:55 AM on December 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


We turned the open MacBook with the keyboard upside down, propped up, close to the radiator with a running (cold) fan close to it. Let the fan run through the night and a bit. Three years later, MacBook still running fine. You might be in luck, in other words.
posted by Namlit at 4:14 PM on December 20, 2018


Rice does absolutely NOTHING

Kind of depends on where the water is. In the case I described above, the water had been sucked inside the screen, between the outer and inner transparent layers, by capillary action. The computer worked fine, but the screen looked like a microscope slide sandwiching blobs of water. But we could visibly see the progress of water evaporating over the course of weeks. Whether or not the rice really helped speed that up, I don't know, but it letting it dry out did work. Now if the water is all over the motherboard, maybe that's a different story.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:05 PM on December 20, 2018


Here is my water on keyboard question from three years ago.

Everything turned out okay at the repair shop. But it could have been $280. Which is still not bad.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:26 PM on December 20, 2018


Response by poster: Thank you, everyone, for helping me keep my cool and saving me hours at the Apple store. We are drying with a fan and seeing what will happen. In the meantime, we await krampus’ arrival to teach Child Rattery a Christmas lesson. (I jest!! She’s too cute to be mad at!)
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 6:22 AM on December 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


« Older Who can help me with COBRA and suspended AETNA...   |   Hosting / Guest Etiquette Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.