MacMedics 5-Star Review – "One chef will have to use this malfunctioning laptop as their ONLY HEAT SOURCE!"

We had to share this recent 5-Star MacMedics review that mentions Alton Brown and Sandy the Shop Cat the shop kat. Enjoy.
“My five-year-old, well-out-of-warranty (but dearly loved) 17” MacBook Pro committed suicide last Thursday evening. It had been behaving perfectly 99.9% of the five years I’ve owned it, then it went glitchy with video and virtually flamed out. It was HOT. Alton Brown could have used it as a heat source for a punishment on “Cutthroat Kitchen” (“One chef will have to use this malfunctioning laptop as their ONLY HEAT SOURCE…”). There was a sizzling-snap noise and it was dead. I have a lot of IT experience and have built and rebuilt countless Windows PCs and laptops. While I suspected the logic board (what everyone else calls a system board or motherboard), I wasn’t sure.
I don’t *want* a new laptop. So I logged in to make an appointment at the Apple Store for a repair quote. While I expected it to be traumatic, I didn’t expect the first trauma to be trying to simply get an appointment. The first available option was five days out! How could I survive in limbo for five days? Then I noticed that there are several Apple-annointed independent computer repair options in the area! SAVED!
Honestly, I chose MacMedics partly for the quickly-available appointment and partly because they have a store cat. The store cat is most excellent and fluffy, by the way. If you go there, give the kitty gentle head scritches but not back pets.
ANYHOW, the laptop died Thursday night and I took it to them Friday at lunchtime. It took about 2 minutes for them to inform me that the logic board had been fried by the failure of the video chip, that it’s an $800 part, and *that there is an extended warranty that covers the issue until the end of this calendar year!* They were able to bill the entire repair to Apple. So having my laptop attempt self-immolation is aggravating, but timing is everything.
MacMedics ordered the part immediately, and let me know that they couldn’t predict how long it would take to arrive. They did inform me of the updates I would receive by email. Off I went to be limited to an iPad over the weekend and possibly for longer. Well, on Monday (literally the next business day) I got a lunchtime email letting me know that the repair was complete. Top notch service!
As a side note, they inquired about my data backup solution without being pushy-selly about it (which is good, as I had that covered), and made a couple of security observations that were helpful and appropriate.
All-in-all, MacMedics is a good alternative to the Apple Store. Especially since the Apple Store is completely lacking in resident cats.”