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We often get that dreaded call, "Help, I just spilled a drink into my laptop, what should I do?" Everyone thinks they are so careful and it won't happen to them. Unfortunately it happens too often to ignore. Do you know what do if you spill a drink into or on your laptop? A lot of times we hear it was working fine, then it just shut off, or it on't turn on at all. Unfortunately, by this time the damage may already be done. The very first thing that should be done is any and all power sources should be removed. If you have a removable battery, take it out. Many of the new laptops have batteries that are not accessible from the outside. These should be taken to a repair facility such as The Apple Xchange so we can remove the battery promptly.
With no power to the computer, try to get it dried as quickly as possible. If you can get it to us, we will remove the covers necessary and get it dried to minimize any damage. We use a special process to then clean the logic board and electronic components to restore function and then to also prevent the spread of corrosion. A lot of times after a spill the device will work just fine for a while. If it is not treated properly, corrosion builds, like rust and eventually causes a failure. Our process prevents this from happening.
If you take the machine to many places they will tell you it just needs to be replaced, or uneconomical to fix. We find this is not really the case in many instances. Often the keyboard is the first victim of a spill, and replacement of it, and cleanup of the rest of the machine can run under $250 on some laptops and will keep it working like new. If you have a spill, call us, we would be happy to help get through it! Most importantly, do something! |
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When was the last time you backed up your computer? Sounds easy enough, but most of the time when we get computers with bad drives it is not backed up. Apple couldn't make it much easier. Did you know that all versions of OS X, Leopard or later include a backup utility called Time Machine? All it takes is an external hard drive and about 30 seconds to let it set it up and your data will be safe. Do you have valuable data? Personal pictures, music, data files you can't be without? A $100 external hard drive will save a lot of heartache.
If you think it won't happen to you, think again. Hard drives fail at an annual rate of 3%. Think of your hard drive as a ticking time bomb. Eventually it will fail. Are you prepared if it happened tomorrow?
Hard drive failures happen in different ways. You will have either a file system failure (corruption) or a mechanical failure. Corruption without a mechanical failure often happens as a result of not shutting down the computer properly. The good news is we can usually recover this data with a high rate of success. The Apple Xchange uses several utilities to rebuild filesystems, often without any data loss. Mechanical failures are usually not recoverable without spending a lot of money. Hard drives cannot be opened in anything other than a clean room environment. The cost for these repairs easily exceeds $1,000, and is recommended only if absolutely necessary.
A simple backup would prevent all of this. All you need is an external hard drive. The first time you plug it in, you will be prompted if you would like to use this for backup. If you select "Yes," then you are done with setup. It will make a full backup the first time, and then backup every hour that the disk is plugged in, recording any changes made. Time machine lets you go "Back in Time" so if you wanted a file from 2 weeks ago, you can restore that. Want a Word Document as it was 2 months ago, no problem. It only takes a minute to setup, around $100 and it will save your data.
Any more questions on backup, give us a call! |
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Alan's Blog - Feb 17 2012 |
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Welcome to what will be a new section of our website. A lot of times I get asked what I think is happening in the world of Apple products, so I am going to use this space to provide feedback. My goal will be to add a new article at least once per week. What you will read are my feelings based on what I see in the marketplace and what I read about. I take no claims to ANY of it being accurate, it is all just my opinion.
It is interesting news, yesterdays announcement of OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) to be released this summer. I like what I hear about the new Messages app and notification center functionality similar to what we have already seen in iOS 5. It will include integration of Facetime, iMessage and IM (iChat). Some of the smaller changes will come in the way of updates, which is reported to be included as part of the App Store, and no longer the standalone Software Update application.
While Apple computers already experience much better security than their Windows counterparts, the new OS will include Gatekeeper, an extra security layer that will help prevent third party malware from installing on your Mac.
One of the less talked about "features" of Mountain Lion is the increased hardware requirements. When OS X Lion came out last summer, we saw the minimum processor requirement jump to a 64-bit Core 2 Duo. Mountain Lion goes a step further by requiring faster video hardware, and will not be supported on machines such as the 2006-2008 MacBooks which rely on Intel video processors. 2009 MacBooks and newer which use the NVidia GPU are fully supported. MacBook Pro's released prior to June 2007 will no longer be supported.
The even less ignificant change will be Apple dropping the "Mac" our of the OSX Name. It will no longer be called "Mac OS X Lion," but instead just "OS X Mountain Lion"
If you have questions about what this means for your Mac, or you are looking to purchase a Mac and have questions if it will be supported please give us a call, email or visit! |
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Alan's Blog