Spilled a bit of water on my macbook.

So some water got spilled ontop of the keyboard. Note that at the time I was able to use the trackpad and turn off the system just fine. I don't think any water got between the keys, but I could be wrong. It wasn't a lot of water. It came on the laptop from an angle, from the side, not directly on top of the keyboard.

I've had the macbook turned off and turned upside down on a towel for a few hours now. It seemed to of been working right after the spill occurred, no screen spasms, noises or anything of that sort. When can I turn it on to test it?

Will my macbook survive this or am I going to get issues later?

Thanks.

 

I spilled gatorade all over my windows 2000 pc while it was fully on and working, all I did was clean it and nothing happened (Yes that may have been dangerous)
Imo, if it's completely clean, it may be safe to turn on. Did it make any sounds when the water was spilled on it though?

 

No sounds were made, and the screen was completely fine - so no distortion of any sort

 

If it is completely wiped off, I would turn it on, but I'm not 100% of a computer guy, so don't take my word for it =P Should work tho. Best of luck buddy

 

Now, I can't necessarily speak much for apple, but generally on most laptops of any brand, the keyboard is a solid unit. I've had a lot of laptops apart(some from sony, Samsung, Lenovo, Toshiba, MSi, ASUS, Acer, Sager, and only one older MacBook) and all of them had self-contained keyboards. That is, if you drop fluid into it, it doesn't pass through the keyboard but is instead contained within the keyboard. It has the entire back of it coated in aluminum, and fluid cant pass through that of course. This doesn't necessarily count if you dumped an entire glass of water over it at once...then there is a chance water found its way into other places on the top of the laptop. Those places are likely not going to be contained, and then water may find its way through.

If you decide to fix it yourself, I highly recommend getting a toolkit from "ifixit". It's what I use, and it's very high quality...has tools to fix any small device as well. If you're under warranty, I suggest you go that route first, but give the keyboard a few days to dry out.

 

Awesome answer, the water wasn't directly spilled, it came in from the side. I'll let it dry out for a day or two before turning it on. I've let it sit upside down, opened the lid and no water on the screen so my hopes are no water actually got through the keys.

Worst case scenario, I have insurance for this thing with my home owners insurance for up to $1000. I think $1k should be enough to cover for any possible repairs needed if needed.

 

Certainly should. A new keyboard for a newer model MacBook pro is about 100 dollars. A shop who has experience with your particular model should have it replaced in about 1 to 1 1/2 hours max(85-115/hr labor). For the macbooks(similar to other ultrabooks from Samsung, some acers, etc), you have to do a LOT of teardown to get to the keyboard, hence the extra time involved. Some, like Acers, Toshibas, lenovos, etc. have surface mounted Clip-in keyboards. 10 minutes and they're replaced, just pry the edge out of the retainer lip and lift it out.

If it was just a keyboard spill, I would feel confident that your laptop itself is perfectly fine. The water will have entered the key mechanism and settled into the bottom of the keyboard assembly, where it is contained and can't go through the aluminum sheet any further. If you have it turned upside down, make sure it is perfectly flat. Not propped on the lid. Hang the lid over the edge of a counter, and put a weight on top of the bottomside of the laptop to hold it.. Otherwise the water will roll over the bottom edge of the keyboard tray and inside the laptop, instead of outside. The best way to save your keyboard would be to pour an electrical solvent into it(Lectra-Kleen, alcohol) and let it displace all of the moisture, then wait an hour or two for that to evaporate. Of course, you do NOT want to do that with the keyboard installed....so don't try it.

 

How long do you think this needs to dry? A day? 12 hours?

 

Don't use homeowner insurance for a laptop claim lloll are you crazy? Put it in a big bag of rice, you should be fine anyways.

 

It's a $1800 laptop and I pay $7/month for portable item insurance.

 

Portable item insurance? Tell me more... My girlfriend breaks more iPhones than you could imagine.

 

Yeah, I would rice it too. Flip it upside down, stick it in there, and try it in a day or so. Macbooks aren't pathetically weak to water, so you should be fine!

 

most people say rice. Thats a pretty good idea.


inb4 you get rice stuck under your keycaps.

 

Turned on the laptop, working just fine. Thank fuck nothing got through.

 

Aussie bank offers it:

https://www.commbank.com.au/personal/insurance/home-insurance/portable-contents-cover.html

 

Does it cover all damage on all portable devices?

 

Yep.

Thankfully my mac is fine so won't be needed.

 

Do you have AppleCare in case it happens again in the future? At least it was a bit of water and not soda.

 

Don't buy a Mac Next time :trollface:

 

Didn't look at the other replies, should be fine at this point. If you're really worried take it in to have it looked at.