Cost of Repair

[KTsBBQ]

One of my friend's Imac G5's CD drive has broken. How much would it be to have it repaired by apple (his warranty has expired)? How much cheaper would it be to just order a new drive and install it than to take it in? And how easy is it to do do that, I looked at the instructions and it looked pretty easy but I'm not very experienced with stuff like that?

Thanks
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2010 Macbook Pro 2.53 Core i5, Anti-glare screen, 500 gb 7200 rpm HD, 4gb RAM
Mac Mini 1.66 GHz CD, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB Hd, 750GB Ministack V2.5
16GB iPhone 3Gs Black
MSI Wind U123 1.66 GHz Atom, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HD, Mac OS X Snow Leopard - Sold

[TonyMontana]

If money is not an issue Apple will do the job for a couple of hundred. Personally if it is out of warranty, do it yourself, many sites have very detailed instructions with photos and sometimes video. If you are not tech savoy, shop around for the best install price. $50 or so would be a fair install price from a local tech since this is an easy install.
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MacMini 2.0GHz C2D (2009)
MacMini 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo
Dell Mini 10v *OSX 10.6.4*

[Bandit Bill]

$130 + shipping for an internal DVD burner.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MG5SL8XDLK/

Your other option is to go to something external model. I just bought a Sony external for $100 CDN. It works very well.

[SOCOMRAIDER]

You can get a Pioneer DVR K05 or K06.. either at these places.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=171021&prodlist=froogle
or
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=171021&prodlist=froogle
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827129003&ATT=27-129-003&CMP=OTC-Froogle

Then follow these instructions here...
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacg5_17inch_OpticalDrive.pdf

The slot-load iMacs have the same drives as the Mac Minis. So you can use the Pioneer, which is a decent performer.

All you need to do, once you have the iMac apart, is remove the bracket from the old drive and put it on the new drive. Then you essentially install the drive by securing the bracket and plugging in the connection.

If you are running 10.3.9 or earlier, then you probably need to run PatchBurn.
However, if you are running the latest Tiger, 10.4.8. It should run fine after install.
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Or you can go external. But if the machine is to be sold some day... a broken internal drive will hurt the sale price.
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[SOCOMRAIDER]

I was at the Apple Store today and I checked the Superdrives on the latest iMacs. They use the Pioneer DVR K06 for their drive.
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