clicking on the image opens the video in YouTube

Here’s the first in a series of short instructional videos for changing/upgrading the parts of various kinds of Macs. A lot of our customers often ask how to do various things with their Macs, so we’re building up a database of sorts to help them out.

If you’d like to see how to change the RAM on a Mac Pro, have a look at this Scrumpymacs video on YouTube.

If you have any suggestions of future videos, feel free to get in touch with us.

If you’re Mac is on it’s last legs, on it’s way to Apple heaven, or just in need of a quick spruce up, we can help.

Please note though, we only undertake repairs on Macintosh equipment. We’re not able to repair iPhones, iPods or iPads.

Our repair services and prices are as follows:

Investigation Fee £30 (one off price):
This fee is charged for general initial fault finding.  It also includes us running ASD (Apple Service Diagnostics) to check for any possible internal hardware faults/failures.

After this has been carried out a price will be quoted to the customer for the repair.  If you go ahead with the repair then this fee is waived.

This fee is still applicable if no fault is found.

Hourly Rate £45:
Hardware and software repairs are undertaken at this rate, charged as hour-long blocks, with the minimum charge of £45 applicable to all repairs. If the repair entails replacement parts then we will run ASD again to ensure no further faults are found. Please note that this fee is for labour only, all replacement parts will be charged accordingly.

Data Recovery £30 per hour:
Hard drive failed? We can help. Our data recovery service has an excellent success rate. Sadly, we cannot guarantee your data being recovered if the hard drive is damaged in such a way that makes recovery impossible. This cannot be determined until an attempt at data recovery has been made, so the charge still applies even if it’s unsuccessful.

The price however does include rescued data being transferred to a drive of your choosing.

Data Transfer £30 (one off price):
If you need data moving from an old Mac to a new one, we take the hassle out of it for you.

RAM upgrades: 
If you want to upgrade your RAM, we’ll happily fit it for you – whether you’ve purchased the RAM from us or not.
This is charged at a one off fee of £10 per computer, except for a pre-2011 Mac Mini, in which case we charge a one off £15 fee.

Hard Drive upgrades:
If you wish to upgrade the hard drive in your Mac, we provide a fitting service on drives either purchased from us or elsewhere . This also includes formatting the drive and installing an operating system (excluding OSX 10.7 Lion).  Due to various models of Macs requiring different processes to fit new hard drives, the pricing is itemised as follows:

Mac Pro, G5 and G4 Tower: £15.
All iMac and Mac Mini models: £25
All Mac laptops: £25

Any other services can be quoted individually. So if you’re Mac is getting senile or going bump in the night, don’t hesitate to contact us now.

Andrew (far left) of Scrumpymacs at the Mayoral Presentation

Scrumpymacs were approached by the Ipswich Community Safety Partnership, in association with the Making Tracks youth centre, to make us aware of the work of Chloe Algar, a very talented Ipswich school girl.

Chloe has been working with the Ipswich Community Safety Partnership, providing illustrations for a poster campaign and now a wristband, that deliver important community safety messages.

Scrumpymacs were asked if we could provide Chloe a computer on which she could further her work and we were more than happy to oblige with help from the Ropes Trust to provide Chloe with a 17″ iMac. Chloe’s positive work was recognised by the Mayor of Ipswich, Councillor John Le Grys, on 08/12/2011 at the Mayor’s Parlour (See above image).

Andrew of Scrumpymacs said “Scrumpymacs are really pleased to be able to support Chloe, Chloe is obviously very talented and it’s great to see her work having a positive affect on the community”.

So, a while back Apple teased us at the WWDC by telling us a lot about their new operating system Lion (OSX 10.7) and ever since we’ve been eagerly awaiting it’s arrival.

But now it looks like the wait could be over. Various sources close to Apple have given two possible dates of July 6th or 19th for the new OS X 10.7 to finally launch on the App Store. It will be a landmark moment for Apple as it’s their first operating system that is only available online.

Albeit this comes with much controversy as there are several retailers that are now losing out on a large portion of their sales and even traffic (real and virtual) into their stores.

The release of Lion is also likely to be backed by the release of the new generation of MacBook Airs. There is also talk of the new MacBook Air pushing the white MacBooks out of production all together.

Lion itself, as shown at WWDC, will blur the boundaries between Mac OSX and iOS systems, something Apple have reinforced by dropping ‘Mac’ from the name of the new operating system (not that we’re sure that it really matters).

For those of you who are using older Apple Macs, and are wondering or worried if you’ll be able to upgrade to Lion, have a look at our blog post about the system requirements of Lion.

After years of proudly stating ‘Macs can’t get viruses’ it would appear that the Mac Defender Malware has finally caught out Apple. In an official statement,  Apple acknowledged that Mac Defender malware, a phishing scam which tries to trick users into giving their credit card information, has possibly affected between 60,000 and 125,000 users already.

At Scrumpymacs we’ve started receiving calls from customers who have been unfortunate enough to be affected by Mac Defender, and others who are worried about picking it up.

The Malware (Malicious Software) can be  downloaded automatically when browsing infected websites and, if allowed to install, displays fake alerts and prompts users to pay for the ‘full version’ of the program.

If you have downloaded the software, please do not panic, and please do not provide any credit card details.

To remove Mac Defender Apple have provided a step-by-step guide on their support forum. In addition to this, they have also promised an update to Mac OS X in the next few days that will kill the virus and all known variants, as well as providing explicit warnings for any future attacks my this Malware.

We’ve had a lot of customers asking if they’d need to be running new Apple kit to successfully run Lion. Thankfully we can say that there’s no need to panic, as a lot of the older machines will still run the all new whistles and bells operating system.

Happily, the new operating system will run on any Apple computer that is truely 64 bit. Which in Laymen’s terms means that it will run on any machine that has an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and above.

Sadly those of you running a G5 or Intel Core Duo based Apple Mac, will not be able to get into Lion.

For a brief look at what the new developer preview is showing off, have a look at the Macstories.net review.

Thinking it’s time to upgrade your aging G5 but don’t want to splash out on a new Mac? Then have a look at our store for Mac Pros, Intel iMacs and Apple Laptops.

As mentioned in a previous post, we love it when people are so happy with our service, that they send us a glowing review.

We received an email earlier today from Jeremy Stock of Run Print Run Commercial Printers, with possibly the best and most inventive testimonial we’ve ever seen!

“Needed a replacement Mac
Thought of buying new
Someone said ScrumpyMacs
So I bought one straight from you.

Looking for a bargain
That’s the nature of the game
Took a chance on a refurbished one
It’s just the friggin same!

Dead impressed with Scrumpy
Saved £600+ on buying new
Next time I’m on the web looking
I’ll order not one, but a few!”

Thank you Jeremy, you’ve made our day!

Mark Hyde of isite-media recently had this to say about us:

“I contacted Scrumpy Macs searching for replacement casing for my damaged MacBook Pro. They took my serial number and called me back super quick to let me know they had the parts I required, and at a great price.

Not only did they arrange collection of my computer they even saved me money when the were able to just replace some of the damaged keys and not replace the whole keyboard. They even stayed open late to allow me to collect my machine.

Scrumpy Macs are a professional and friendly Mac service provider who understand their clients needs and exceed their requests. If you have a Mac and need assistance bringing it back to it’s former glory, look no further.”

A huge thank you to Mark, for those kind words.

A lot of people contact Scrumpymacs HQ with very valid questions and worries before they commit to buying a pre-used Apple Mac. They’re already aware of the positives, such as the lower cost and being able to customise and upgrade the Macs more than a new one, but need a few fears putting to rest before committing to buy.

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and how buying from Scrumpymacs can help.

“Will an old Mac be able to run the latest software?”

For the most part yes. All of the Macs we sell, come loaded with the latest operating system available for that machine installed. All of the truly 64 bit Macs we sell (Core 2 duo processors and all Mac Pros, for example) are fully ready to run Mac OS X Lion (10.7) when it is released later in the year. In addition to this they are capable of running the latest versions of popular software such as Adobe CS5 and Logic 9.

What we have found however, in the last year especially, developers are now mostly producing software to run with only Intel powered Macs. Therefore certain pieces of   software will no longer run on the older G5 Macs. This of course is only an issue if you want to be running the very latest applications.

“Aren’t old Macs going to be more prone to breaking down?”

We rigorously test every single Mac that comes into us before we’re happy to sell it to you, making sure that any parts that are worn and could potentially fail are replaced for new parts. Unlike a lot of resellers, we don’t build machines from second hand parts. We rarely have any hardware failures with the Macs we supply, but for your piece of mind offer a return-to-base warranty with every Mac sold. If we can’t fix any issues, we’ll happily replace the Mac.

“What if there are problems with the Mac, what support will I get?”

Scrumpymacs are always available by phone or email, to offer you support, even if your used Mac is no longer under warranty. We value our customers very highly and want you to get the most from the product you buy from us, so we’re always ready to help.

“Isn’t a second hand Mac going to be a bit shabby?”

Granted, the Macs are pre-used, therefore a small amount of cosmetic wear and tear is to be expected. But, we pride ourselves on only supplying quality second hand Macs and won’t sell anything to you that looks like it’s been dragged through a hedge backwards.

If there is any wear and tear that is greater than to be expected on a second hand Mac, we’ll  do our best to make you aware of it in our website or eBay listings. Of course, the price we sell it for will always reflect this too.

“Will I have to pay for delivery?”

Absolutely not. Scrumpymacs deliver everything to you free of charge.

“How can you sell the used Macs for such low prices?”

The majority of the Macs we sell are ex-lease Apple Macs, bought directly from the end users. Therefore, we cut out the middle man and can pass on the savings to you.

Still not convinced that a used Mac is right for you? Well, don’t just take our word for it, our eBay store has sold over 8,500 items over the years and still maintains a 99.9% positive feedback score from our very happy customers – who tend to come back time and time again.

So what are you waiting for? If you’re already interested in buying a used Apple Mac, contact us today. scrumpymacs.co.uk

Continuing the theme of our new black boxes, we now have a shiny black van to deliver them with!

We’re currently debating how to have it sign written. The favourite idea so far is for it to end up looking something like this

We pity the fool who doesn’t think it’s a good idea, sucka!