MacBook Pro Teardown
| Dented Case | Damaged LCD | Bare Display Assembly |
|---|---|---|
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 |
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I tore the upper display assembly of the MacBook Pro down to bare metal last night. Found some good articles online on how to do it–after I had already done it. Probably could have saved myself a few glass shards in the fingers. Basically I just started prying under the cracked glass with a knife until I had all the original glass cover off and then used a very tiny Phillips screwdriver to remove the damaged LCD panel. The trick I could have benefited from is to use a heat gun or hair dryer to loosen up the adhesive and just pull up the glass with a large suction cup.
Once I had it opened up to the bare metal, I turned the laptop upside down and rested it on a hard wood surface and tried to pound the dent out with a hammer from the inside. At first the hammer just bounced off and I thought maybe the metal could use some softening. I used a hair dryer on high power held right up against the aluminum to try to soften it. Seems to have worked as the next whack of the hammer basically turned the dent pointed in into a small dent curving up from the exterior surface. That should be okay as I intend to keep it in a MCOVER hard polycarbonate shell from here on out.
After I was pretty confident that I could reassemble the MBP, I went ahead and ordered a replacement LED-backlit LCD and glass screen for it. Total cost for the polycarbonate shell, replacement LCD, and replacement glass is about $270. If only Apple would have stood behind their product for the same out of pocket…I would be willing to buy another one. When the MBP dies, I am totally going with something like a Dell or HP!