When you live in a place long enough, you acquire a lot of second hand knowledge about the best this and the best that: dentist, shoe repair, tailor, etc. To that list I’m now also adding MacLife, which if it isn’t a lifesaver is certainly a hard drive saver. I discovered it following a Facebook appeal after my computer came to a shuddering crash, and while a few people recommended Espo in the Uni library I ended up leaving on discovering that first, they don’t look at the computer on-site, and that second, they charge zł. 100 just for diagnosis. Which is why I ended up going for suggestion No. 2, MacLife. I was immediately impressed by their attention and courtesy, and even more so when I was told that the diagnosis and repair cost estimate would be free.

Sat over a coffee – yes, it also doubles as a coffee shop – the guy in charge of reviving my baby also revealed they also offer an ‘express’ repair service that allows customers to skip queues and get their Macs checked straight away: something well worth the zł. 50 fee. That’s not all. There’s also a mobile ‘ambulance’ service that, for a call-out fee of zł. 150 (within a 10km radius of the shop, plus the additional cost of repair and materials), will drive to whichever trouble spot you’re in and either conduct surgery on your Mac at your place, or take the device back to the shop before delivering it back to you in full working order. Not bad at all.

As if that wasn’t enough, MacLife stands out in other ways as well – should the worst come to the worse, then the prices they offer for new Apple products are actually cheaper than the official online store. I don’t know how they do it, but MacLife is king, though even so, the whole sorry episode did remind me of one of life’s more brutal lessons: there are those who back up their information, and those who will. (KD)