I'm in HK and have a 17 inch monitor iMac computer. The monitor seems to be failing, as there is this two inch wide vertical stripe of rainbow colours down the middle of the monitor. To bring the unit into the authorized service centre, they charge HK$600 (about baht 2,600) just to evaluate the problem and make an estimate for cost of repairs. No offset on $600 if you go ahead with repairs, and no refund if you decide not to do repairs.

So I found another shop that can repair macs, and over phone, he said probably the monitor has to be replace, and the cost would be HK$3,800 (about baht 17,000). He said ASC would probably charge in excess of $5,000 (baht 22,000).

Do these estimates sound reasonable to any of you mac users? A new 20 in iMac would cost a bit over $10,000 (baht 45,000) here in HK. So I wonder why anyone would want to repair something that costs 50% of the price of a brand new complete system?

The iMac still works fine -- hard disk, CPU, connections -- just the vertical stripe down the middle where nothing can be seen.

Since I had a Toshiba Satellite L40 laptop, I bought a new Acer 18.5 inch monitor, and hooked up the monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the Toshiba which functions only a harddisk and processor, and the system works like a charm, except the system only has Vista and no MS Office, Photoshop, or other similar applications. The Acer monitor, brand new, cost only $1,020 (baht 4,600).

LCD's are very expensive and if the computer is not new, sometimes it is better to just scrap it and buy another.

If you pm me the model's serial number I can check from my supplier how much it is to buy just a replacement screen.

My business does this sort of thing from time to time, we charge around 3-4k baht.

MarleyMark, pm sent to you.

Thanks.

tangoll

I'm in HK and have a 17 inch monitor iMac computer. The monitor seems to be failing, as there is this two inch wide vertical stripe of rainbow colours down the middle of the monitor. To bring the unit into the authorized service centre, they charge HK$600 (about baht 2,600) just to evaluate the problem and make an estimate for cost of repairs. No offset on $600 if you go ahead with repairs, and no refund if you decide not to do repairs.

So I found another shop that can repair macs, and over phone, he said probably the monitor has to be replace, and the cost would be HK$3,800 (about baht 17,000). He said ASC would probably charge in excess of $5,000 (baht 22,000).

Do these estimates sound reasonable to any of you mac users? A new 20 in iMac would cost a bit over $10,000 (baht 45,000) here in HK. So I wonder why anyone would want to repair something that costs 50% of the price of a brand new complete system?

The iMac still works fine -- hard disk, CPU, connections -- just the vertical stripe down the middle where nothing can be seen.

Since I had a Toshiba Satellite L40 laptop, I bought a new Acer 18.5 inch monitor, and hooked up the monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the Toshiba which functions only a harddisk and processor, and the system works like a charm, except the system only has Vista and no MS Office, Photoshop, or other similar applications. The Acer monitor, brand new, cost only $1,020 (baht 4,600).

Have you looked around for another 17" iMac second hand? Maybe you can find a dead one with a good screen and do a swap yourself?

blakegeese, the iMac is an integrated setup where the CPU, harddisk, etc are like built inside the monitor unit, so I think to swap out just the screen/monitor is no obvious or simple task. At least it doesn't appear simple to me. So I haven't even thought of looking for a 2nd hand iMac in HK.