I am going to ****.

Question

Well I managed to break my roommates macbook pro screen.
We're studying abroad in the netherlands currently, we live in a small room. I tripped over my chair and in an attempt not to fall attempted to grab onto something... I grabbed onto his macbook pro...
The fall wasn't really what broke it, he has a hard shell on it, but all my weight shifted so i was pressing on the top of computer (the computer was closed) I hear almost a "pop" sound. There aren't any other dents or scratches or anything, but his screen is obviously cracked and impossible to use now (It's all just a lot of colors)
He's traveling currently and I have no way to contact him. He won't be back until sunday so i want to figure everything on how to repay him for this before that. I feel like a huge schmuck and I need to make this up to him.
His data is obviously recoverable so that's not an issue thank god, but what is the cheapest solution to get this fixed? I can't start working until december when I get back to the states and money is really tight so buying him a complete new computer is semi-impossible... Obviously I can't just say I'll start a payment plan for him, I want to pay him all upfront. I was thinking that until he gets his fixed, we transfer all his data onto my laptop and he uses mine. Or I get him a cheap moniter so he can at least temporarily use his own, which I would prefer. (I do have to do school work as well on my own laptop.)
I've seen a lot of different options to have it repaired, all of which will probably have to wait three weeks until we get back home. It seems extrememly expensive (1000 dollars?) to get it fixed directly through apple, and cheaper (400-500?) to get it fixed through a third-party manufacturer. Are there any trusted ones? Recommendations on other options?
This could happen to anyone, I feel like crap, I'm kind of freaking out.
Help a brother out, what do I do?

Answer 1

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Bummer! What a bad thing to happen!
You are right to want to pay to get your roommate's Mac fixed. It is the right thing to do.
It should be fixed either by Apple or by an AASP. I think it would be advisable to let him select who is to repair it. I think the highest quality repair would be done at an Apple Depot.
Applecare, if he has it, will not pay for accidental damage, but it's possible that he may have other insurance that would. If he paid with a credit card, there may be some provision for paying at least some of the cost for repairing accidental damage. Some homeowner's or renters insurances might also have some sort of a rider for this.
However, it may well be that he has none of this and you will be on the hook for the entire amount.
You might be able to find a local AASP who could fix it. Here is a list of Apple International phone contacts:
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html
If they are able to help you find an AASP who could fix the Mac sooner, that would be another possible option. You might even be able to get it looked at and get an exact price quote. It would be a good idea to find out if the display is the only casualty, or if there is other damage as well.
Again, your roommate needs to decide where he would want to get it fixed. He may prefer to wait until he gets back to the states.
In the meantime, ask him if he would prefer to use a monitor or your computer. If he would prefer to use yours, then you could use his with an external monitor. Give him the choice.
Things happen--like you said, it could happen to anybody. Your willingness to pay to have the damage repaired and make things right is absolutely the right thing to do, and all you can do.
Good luck!