Macbook LCD screen repair project

By Evert on 2009-06-09 06:24:35

The LCD screen from my macbook broke a while back, much to my regret Apple's warranty didn't cover it at the time and was going to charge $900 for it.

I was pretty set on making it useful again, so a few days ago I ordered a new LCD screen myself. It was quite an undertaking to replace it, because it was needed to take the entire thing apart, top to bottom.

It took me 4 hours, and 12 minutes including dinner and going to the neighbours to replace a screwdriver. Here's a 12 second version of it:

If you plan to try this yourself, know what you're getting into.. Make sure you have a steady hand and it helps if there's someone around to hold stuff together. Make sure you get good screwdrivers and be very careful with the cabling. I also found it handy to use tweezers.

I got the instructions from IFixit, which has some great guides.

After all that, I ended up with 1 screw I was unable to fit back in, a few damaged wifi antenna cables (still worked!) and I discovered a few places of broken plastic, which were likely from the first time it got damaged.

Comments

Andy Walpole said on Tuesday, 13 October 2009 at 9:17 am CEST

Congratulations I'm impressed!

I find it hard enough just to add memory on a Mac let alone change the screen...

Thijs said on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 at 8:41 am CEST

Haha that's awesome, love the video and the part about the last screw, congrats.

Robert K said on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 at 9:50 am CEST

Laptops are horrible to repair - especially the screens. Never tried it on a mac book before though. Following your example I might just steer clear of them altogether lol. Gratz on getting it to work though!

cheryl said on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 at 12:39 pm CEST

I always make a drawing of the screws and tape them onto a piece of paper. That makes it easy to put them back together.

Lauren Reagan said on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 at 3:28 pm CEST

I never would attempt something such as this, honestly never thought anyone other than a professional would or could. Good info & good job!
Respectfully,
Lauren

Evert said on Tuesday, 9 June 2009 at 3:47 pm CEST

I did the same cheryl, but that's a good suggestion. You'll end up with about a hundred screws so I made little sections on a paper (which I taped to the table).

I just numbered the sections with the step# from the instructions.

I actually did know where the very last screw had to go, but I 'screwed' up with some cables so I could literally not fit it in anymore :(

't Bijstere spoor

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