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Question

What would be the approx. cost to install a new screen?

Dec 7, 2011 8:28AM PST

My wife has a Mac Laptop that developed a large black spot on the screen when a small picture frame fell off a shelf and struck the screen. The black spot is growing in size each day it is used.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Guessing this model.
Dec 7, 2011 8:34AM PST
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At 5-6 years
Dec 7, 2011 10:20AM PST

At 5-6 years, that would put it on the Apple Vintage list at a minimum, meaning only repair shops in the state of California could get parts. Without that, then you're left with increasingly sketchy options.

Personally, given the age of the thing, you'd almost certainly spend more repairing it than the resale value if it were in perfect working order. I'd just toss the thing up on ebay (less the HDD) for parts to help mitigate the costs of a new unit.

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Been there, done that!
Dec 9, 2011 10:23AM PST
My son's 13" Macbook screen needed changing about two years ago. It was a learning experience! We
bought an aftermarket screen that was much cheaper than anything that Apple and its stores had for
sale. We also learned that the overpriced screens that Apple had for sale were manufactured by other
companies as Apple did not make its own screen.

We acquired the necessary installation information online and installed it ourselves. It took about two
hours and the biggest challenges were keeping track of the various parts and working with very
small screws - don't try it if you do not have good vision and the dexterity to line up and tighten tiny
parts.

Bottom line: it can be done and is worth it if you have the time and patience. Total cost was $100 Cdn.
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Why would you think
Dec 9, 2011 12:08PM PST

Why would you think Apple manufactured their own displays? Most of them come from LG, some Samsung (which is annoying, since they have a different LVDS cable), which isn't exactly a secret. And of course a big chunk of what you're paying for with buying from Apple is the 90 day warranty on the repair. They have to figure a certain percentage will fail within that period (same as after market displays), and they will have to replace those, so everything is priced accordingly to allow for them to still make a profit overall.

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You misunderstood1
Dec 9, 2011 1:54PM PST

If you check my first paragraph you will note that I said that Apple did NOT manufacture their own screens, which we learned as we did our homework. But we couldn't understand why they wanted about $500 for a $100 screen that we knew was not an Apple product. That $400 difference is a lot to pay for warranty. Glad we did it ourselves. And the screen we installed lasted longer than the original. Grin

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No
Dec 9, 2011 10:12PM PST

No, I saw that, and I was then, and am still now, wondering why you would think Apple was manufacturing these things. The only way you could "find out" this information is if you were under the impression Apple was the one manufacturing them in the first place. This has NEVER been the case in the entire history of Apple. You have any idea how much it costs to build a fabrication facility for building the chips needed in a computer? Even in 1970s dollars, when Apple was founded, we'd be talking at least tens of millions. Today it's easily hundreds of millions to even billions. Some little rinky **** startup isn't going to have access to that kind of capital. Never mind being able to pay the people with the necessary skills to produce the chips.

Anyway, I would also expect that the price you were quoted included the labor to install it, which is quite a bit of work on the older MacBooks as you may have noticed. Whole load of opportunities to damage something in the process if you don't know what you're doing. Risk you're assuming if you do it yourself, but if things go pear shaped when someone ELSE is doing it, they're on the hook to fix it on their dime.

In any case, it's a false conclusion without knowing what actually caused the original to fail, to say that there was something inherently better about the third party one. Simple fact is, most things follow your basic bell curve. Some will fail early, most fail within a certain time frame, and then there are a few that just seem to last forever.

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i had this repair...
Dec 9, 2011 10:26AM PST

My 2004 17 inch needed this repair plus the keyboard but fortuneately itmwas covered under extended warranty. This is 7 years old but
as far as I am concerned still a great computer better then any PC. I would go to a reputable repair shop. I have one nearby and the guy is
very reasonable!