A Mac store and repair center you can trust

Being an Apple user in Medellin can sometimes be a lonely thing. While there are Macbooks everywhere, especially in co-working spaces and at coffee shops, if something goes wrong, like a coffee spill or a drop, you may be stuck with taking your electronics to a random place and hoping for the best or overpaying for service your iPhone, iPad or Macbook needs. Also if you need accessories, sometimes it's easy for tourists to get duped into buying replica parts and not getting what you pay for. With the lack of an Apple Store in Medellin, this happens even more often.

Finding the Right Tech

For most that have been in Medellin for a while, if you ask where to get electronics, they will tell you to go to The Monterrey Mall (Centro Commercial Monterrey), super conveniently located at the bottom of the steps after you leave the Poblado Metro station. Monterrey houses a oasis of tech stores. You can find everything here from vacuums to drones to phones to video games especially electronics repair stores. This mall genuinely deserves its own article and I'll do it, but for now let's focus on Mac repair and sales.

In the middle of the first floor sits Dr Mac, what looks like another Mac accessory store, which it definitely is, but the real magic is upstairs. While on the first floor, you can find anything you need to personalize your. Mac, iPad or iPhone to your standards. You'll also find all things DJI in the store as well. All at reasonable prices. Everything they sell is new and authentic, as they are Apple Certified Retail Partners. I bought a USB to USB-C dock for my new Macbook Pro there and I couldn't be happier. All of their sales reps are very knowledgeable and there is always an English speaking sales associate there to answer your questions.

Get Your Fix

As great as this is, the real thing that makes Dr. Mac different is up the spiral staircase on the second floor. At first you will feel like you're going somewhere you shouldn't be going, but this is the place to go. Once at the top, you will continue to an emergency room for your Apple tech, and likely be greeted by Dr Alexis (Not a title, per se, but a designation). In the room, you will be able to see practically the whole mall from there. Explain your issue to the techs and the'll give you a quote and once you agree on what you need, you'll get a invoice to use for pickup. They'll get your Whatsapp number and you can go on about your day.

Communication is a Key

Alexis is INCREDIBLE about communicating, and if anything comes up, he will message you and keep you posted on everything. Let's face it, our tech is crucial to life, especially as a expat, so when you don't have it, you tend to feel a little naked, and having constant communication with the one fixing it is critical to relaxing.

My Experience

This isn't a paid advertisement, but I see on forums and groups where people are constantly looking for a honest repair shop for apple tech. Part of the point of this website is to inform people about living a good life in a great way without filtered nonsense, so I want to showcase businesses doing it right in Medellin.

I had a friend visiting from the US who has a Macbook Pro with the infamous 'butterfly' keyboard. He had a key that wasn't working properly due to this, and with internet research, said the keyboard was all one piece and needed to be replaced. I was recommended to visit them by a friend and we wandered over there, since it's a 10 minute walk from my house. When we got there, Alexis was very knowledgeable and understood the issue. He offered us 2 options, replacing the keyboard or replacing the upper mechanism all together. This is common if you spill water or something else in the keys. He opted to replace the keyboard and off we went.

About an hour later, I got a message on Whatsapp letting us know that the membrane which tends to go bad was perfectly fine but the laptop was just really dusty, and with a thorough cleaning and servicing, the keyboard would be working perfectly again. The repair bill went down by 80% and everything was working perfectly.

What could have happened was that he could have said he replaced the keyboard, and just cleaned it, but he didn't. This is a shining example of the level of integrity this shop possesses, and this is something that I feel good to share with the community. There are plenty of examples of unscrupulous businesses chasing the fast money from an unsuspecting foreigner, but Dr Mac is far from this.

If you want to get in touch with them, you can reach them on Whatsapp at +573136592240 or you can find them on Instagram at @serviciotecnicodrmac