Originally Posted by garlic_rice

If you can find a copy of Disk Warrior or Data Rescue, that might be the quickest/least expensive option. Otherwise you're looking at either $500-800 for non-invasive data recovery, or upwards of $1400 for clean room magic. This is also assuming that the hard drive is the only thing that's gone.
Is your macbook in decent physical condition (no honkin dents or excessive wear & tear)? You may qualify for Apple Depot repair, in which you pay a flat rate to ship your mac to an apple repair center and they fix everything that needs fixing.

SOURCE: i'm an Apple Certified technician that specializes in data recovery.