Lapin Systems Inc

very patient and helpful with my ancient computer

Took my Mac to Lapin Systems in Evanston, trackpad not responding and battery heating up, these guys are professional and did great work, they also cleaned out all the crumbs in my laptop.
PS they have great customer service, nice lady on the phone told me they are open until 6:00pm so I was able to walk from train station on way home to pick up my computer. Thank you for being in Evanston :)

What a great experience I had with the folks at Lapin! They did a quick diagnosis of my late 2009 iMac and confirmed that the hard drive was failing. They replaced it quickly and got me back up and running in less than a week. I’m a bit high maintenance with my questions and they handled me in a very professional and friendly way. Pricing was more than fair. I’d recommend them to anyone with a sick Mac!

FANTASTIC service!
Needed to replace the battery in my ’09 MCP. The Apple Store at Old Orchard told me it would be a week to 10-​days to replace. Had to even make an appointment to just bring it in to be looked at.
Then I would have to leave it there so they could diagnose the problem — they could not tell me how long that would be.
They would then order the part, then install — and that would about week, or so.
NO THANKS!
I’ve been an Apple user since day-​one and this is simply not acceptable. Apple has obviously grown but unfortunately their service/​repair facilities have not.
Called Lapin in Evanston, they said no problem. Brought it in for a QUICK diagnosis — about 4 minutes. They verified the battery was shot, ordered it right then and the next day they called to tell me the new battery was in. Brought my MCP back to Lapin, installed the new battery in about 10 minutes and I was on my way.
Can’t beat the pros at Lapin.
HIGHLY recommend!

My battery started draining in 10 minutes from a full charge. I was fairly certain the battery needed to be replaced. I first took it to the Apple Store as a walk-​in and waited for an hour and a half without seeing a tech.
I had done some business with Lapin through my restaurant and brought it up to their Evanston shop. The process was quick and easy. Peter quickly diagnosed the issue (yes I needed a new battery), ordered it. The battery was in the next day and Peter quickly installed.
Even better, Lapin determined that it was covered under my soon-​to-​expire Apple Care and they reversed the $ 200 charge.
Excellent experience.

So I called Lapin today to ask for some help and I’m pretty sure, in my panic, I acted like the world revolves around me and my particular Mac needs at this moment. Lord help the Macxpert dealing with a panicked user. But Amanda (whom I soon realized was the same amazing Amanda who used to work at the MacMall on Orleans where I brought my panicked Mac self in days gone by) was not only helpful but really nice to me. I’m typing this review on my perfectly functioning Mac now, not more than an hour after that phone call. As the FSM is my witness, I never have to go to the Apple Store again. This is my second time at Lapin and these guys really are the best — fast, courteous and they really know their stuff.

I live nearby the store, but even then, I could not imagine carrying my 2007 iMac over there, so on three occasions I’ve had Lapin come to my home. Home site visits are costly, and has gone from $ 175 an hour to $ 195 in the last year or so. On two occasions, tech help was provided by Brian. I could solve iMac issues myself if I were at all tech savvy, but I’m not and tend to make things worse by trying and spiraling downward into chaos. This time, I managed to lose my access to the Internet. Brian knows exactly where to go, what needs fixing, and how it happened, AND he describes each step and how to avoid the same problem in the future. He is certified and is that rare techy who is eager to educate his customers. Customer service at Lapin storefront as well on-​site is really great. Their tech support is worth every penny.

I’ve been a Lapin customer for about 20 years and since I live just a few blocks away, I usually bring my Macs in to the store. This time, days behind schedule on a long list of writing projects, I decided to tempt Fate and schedule onsite service.
My mouse had been behaving erratically (even the wireless one) for over a year, my beloved 27″ iMac is 8 years old, I was still using Mountain Lion and I had to admit that I didn’t even understand the relationship between Time Machine and my external hard drive. One other thing: power unit problems with the iMac I had before this one made me reluctant to ever shut this one down. Was that a bad thing, I wondered?
I talked to Brian the day before he arrived and he asked me to write down the issues I was having. I separated the list into two categories: Machine Problems and User Problems.
He arrived right on time, ran some maintenance, diagnosed the mouse problem (incredibly — the mousepad I’d been using), then sat with me as we deleted stuff I had long forgotten or hadn’t used. We ran through a Time Machine tutorial and discussed the merits of Yosemite. I decided to upgrade to Yosemite on my MacBook Air before making the iMac leap.
At first, $ 195/​hour for onsite service seemed a little steep. But in that one hour, Brian solved all my Mac problems. And he was exceedingly patient. I’ve always had good things to say about Lapin, but this experience was really the topper.

Before I explain my 3 stars, let me just say the customer service is excellent. But their pricing has me rubbing my head. I brought my iMac 2007 model in on the Apple Store in Old Orchard’s recommendation, since the Apple Store could not fix the 2007 model anymore. The Apple Store did diagnose it for free and found the 8 year old hard drive was failing. So I went to Lapin where they would do a diagnoses as well for $ 70. I understand they have to to be sure, like taking a pet to a second vet, the second vet needs to do tests as well. I agreed to it, and later the same day I got the results, and by golly, it was the hard drive. I did like the speed of service. They also explained what needs to be done and the prices. A new hard drive, $ 140. Install of OS, $ 90. Labor, $ 175. So it was going to cost a little more than $ 400. Now I understand it is a pain for someone like me to open up the Mac, so Lapin installing the new hard drive is reasonable. But the OS? I happen to have the install disks from 2005 on up, so I can do that myself. Plus I have my Time Machine backup as well. I did have to go online to find out how to format the hard drive, but I enjoy learning to do things. So in the end I paid for the new hard drive, the labor for taking it apart, installing the hard drive, and putting it back together all for under $ 300. But I decided to look up the hard drive online just to see what Western Digital was charging for it. My mouth dropped. The price was $ 60. I paid more than double for it. Another site online, Newegg, was charging $ 55. I thank you for good customer service, quick diagnoses, and good repair job.
Oh, btw, my iMac 2007 is up and running with new hard drive and everything the way it was before. This review was written on it.
UPDATE: The owner called me and we talked about what I wrote. No owner has ever called me about my reviews. I definitely recommend Lapin for Apple repairs and I will return in the future. I really appreciate good customer service.

Thank you for the speedy diagnosis and repair, especially during the blizzard. Love the convenient parking, great staff, and not having to go to the Apple store.

I was very pleased with their service. My MacBookPro was taking forever to boot up and shut diw and was operating reliably but very very very slow. I took it to the Apple Store and was told that this was normal and expected for an older model (mid-​2010), because their feature packed latest operating system (Yosemite) is optimized for late/​model machines. I had heard of Lapin but never had the time to go, but then I heard of their new conveniently located River North store. I took it in and the intake guy pointed out a small dent, near the internal hard drive, that I had never noticed and suggested that perhaps there might be hard drive damage impacting performance. It sounded off-​the-​wall but left it anyhow to be diagnosed. Within a day I got a call back from their technician Jett explaining that a very sensitive and vulnerable cable that connects the hard drive was damaged, most likely due to the impact that also caused the dent. He also suggested a RAM upgrade. He was very patient with me and provided logical answers to all my ignorant questions (I do 95% of my work on Windows 7 machines). It was a hard decision, but I told him to go ahead with the repairs. When I picked it up, he handed me the old parts and turned on the machine, which once again reboots quickly and is performing to my expectations. I will return to these guys for any future Mac repair needs as well as endorse and recommend them.

I have mixed feelings about this place. Overall, they got the job done, and did excellent work. For that, they deserve 5 stars. I came back from vacation and discovered my laptop had decided not to turn on. It ended up being a faulty logic board, which needed to be replaced. Lapin sent it to Apple, who not only replaced the board but also replaced the battery which was faulty, all for the same flat fee.
Where my mixed feelings come in, relate to the timeliness of the repair. I work from home, and thus having my laptop is essential to my ability to earn an income. I brought it to Lapin because it’s near my house, and the Apple store is 20 minutes away, in Old Orchard, which is a headache at best. The guy I spoke to assured me that while they took 1 – 3 days to look at the computer, the apple store would take 5 – 7 days, and that they could do the same job, faster. Perfect! However, they didn’t look at my computer until 5:15 pm on day 3, which was a Friday, so they didn’t finish diagnosing the problem until day 4 which was Monday (I had been without a computer for 6 days, 4 business days at this point). Then they tell me that they can either replace the problem but charge me labor, and if they found additional things wrong with it it would be more expensive, or for $ 200 less I could have them send it to the apple store, which would take minimally another 4 business days.
So while the problem was solved, and they were pleasant to me and also recommended additional ways for me to fix my computer, I ended up not having my computer for 9 business days, which was extremely disruptive to my work. And, if I had gone to the Apple store to begin with, I could’ve solved my problem in 5 – 7 business days as Lapin ended up sending it to Apple anyway. If money and time are not an issue for you, then you can trust the work they do. But if you need it done the most efficient way (financially and timeliness speaking), just take it to Apple.

Very helpful & professional staff. They explained things in easy language that I actually understood. Worth every penny!

So when your computer crashes, life isn’t great… But with the calm demeanor of Pete at Lapin put it all in perspective for me. A couple of days later, (and Pete coming in on his day off) I got my laptop back in great working order for a very fair price. I have been very pleased w the service at Lapin — I feel lucky to have them when I need them.

I highly recommend Lapin Systems! My 2007 IMac crashed and unfortunately, I didn’t have it backed up. Apple doesn’t support old IMacs but they recommended I go to Lapin Systems to see if they could recover anything. I bought a new computer at the Apple store and took both machines to Lapin. They recovered everything off of my old computer and transferred it to the new one. I was so happy!!! Not to mention, they were super reasonably priced. Needless to say, I did also buy a hard drive from them to back up my new computer :)

Bob was amazing! Fast, reasonable, and reliable. I had lost all hope, the apple «genius bar» said I needed a new hard drive and that NONE of my data could be recovered! Thanks to Lapin I still have my son’s first year of life documented – priceless videos and photos (and baby book) that I thought I could never get back!
I would recommend Lapin Systems to anyone with hardware failure, ask for Bob!

Had an issue with my MacBook Pro which was freezing, then turning magenta upon reboot. Brought it into Lapin in Evanston. Apple Care gave the go ahead, as Lapin is part of their system. Took it in Monday morning for a look see, Peter did a thorough diagnosis and noted what parts had to be ordered and called on Tuesday when they were in, and said he would have it to me by the next day. .. which he did ! These folks know what they are doing, and they are fast and friendly. Highly recommended *****

I’ve been using a Macintosh since 1984 and over that entire period of time Lapin ended up providing the best service I’ve ever experienced when needing repairs on an Apple computer. A few weeks ago my MacBook Pro hard drive crashed and was not even visible to my optimization/​recovery program. I walked over to Lapin and they were able to restore all my data, and also install a better drive, for an excellent price … all in less than 3 days!
A few weeks later I encountered an audio issue. In less than 20 minutes that issue was taken care of, and free of charge! These guys are not out to rip you off.
If you own an Apple, and live near Evanston, there is no need to try another place. Skip the slackers and hackers and give these true professionals your business.

Want the expertise of an Apple store without the Apple Store lines? Come to Lapin. They’re authorized, they’re fast, and they’re good. Well, Bob is for sure.
I trust his expertise; he ran the service department at the madhouse that is the Old Orchard Apple Store before opting for the peace and quiet of the comparative piece of heaven at the corner of Dempster and Elmwood in Evanston.
I went in, and there was music playing… softly. I didn’t have to shoulder my way to a bar to talk to a genius. I just went in and waved like a human being to Bob in the next room; I didn’t want to disturb the peace. It was a human experience. We had a connection if you will. I can’t complain about the pricing either.
Why wouldn’t you come here? Perhaps if you lived and worked in Mokena, it would be pretty silly, but you already crossed that bridge BY LIVING IN MOKENA!
So if you have a problem with a computer manufactured by Apple, give the place a look-​see, save yourself the stress of a mall, and go take a stroll to one of the amazing nearby restaurants like Soulwich or Edzo’s. You’ll be glad you did.

As a student at university, there is nothing scarier than your MacBook Pro bugging out.
I went in to Lapin Systems because the display on my early 2011 MacBook Pro decided that it didn’t like to be attached to my computer any longer. Granted, the display hadn’t had time to complete his escape, but it was well on its way. Some ports on the left side of my MBP, like one of the USB inputs, and the audio jack.
I brought it into Lapin during the daily blizzard that is Chiberia. They took it in, told me that turn around may be slightly longer due to the snow slowing down the shipping of parts from Apple.
I got my MBP back in 5 days feeling brand spanking new with a whole new display and top case. Everything was covered under Applecare.
Now I don’t have to rely on the University Library to get my work done.