Quote Originally Posted by MsTiffie View Post
I don't know about the imac, but a friend of mine has upgraded his Macbook a few times on his own. They're apparantly really easy to upgrade/change parts etc. Unlike some laptops which require you to use specific parts from the manufacturer >.<
Upgrading RAM or even a hard drive is one thing, but if they're saying the motherboard would need replacing then it leads me to one of a few conclusions:
A: The graphics card is integrated and replacing it on it's own is pretty much impossible
B: The problem is actually with the motherboard
C: The graphics card is toast but a suitable replacement isn't even available anymore (possible if it's an older model), or
D: The guys at the Mac store have no clue what they're talking about.

D is always an option, but any of the others would mean it's not really a do it yourself job with a Mac, and possibly almost as pricey as buying a new computer outright (I have no idea how much a new iMac motherboard costs, but I'll bet they don't exactly give them away).

Though in all fairness, fixing the same problem in a Windows PC could still be a pain if it's an older computer because specs and standards change pretty fast.