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I have replaced on my MBA...

  • Battery

    Votes: 10 17.9%
  • Topcase/Keyboard/Trackpad

    Votes: 6 10.7%
  • Display

    Votes: 7 12.5%
  • Logic Board

    Votes: 5 8.9%
  • SSD

    Votes: 6 10.7%
  • Other Casing/Screws

    Votes: 5 8.9%
  • IO Board/Microphone/Speakers

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • Fan

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • Airport Card

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • None -- my beast is flawless

    Votes: 37 66.1%

  • Total voters
    56

Aphid Acer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2015
29
0
Getting anxious to get my hands on the '16 MBA powering Iris 540 with 64 MB eDRAM. I've held off for many years because my 4,2 has been rock solid, and most importantly...very easy to repair.

Over the years, I've had to peel back this beauty's hood and tinker to get ol' Frankenstein up and running again. I am curious how many others love their machine and throw caution warranties to the wind for the sake of cradling its motherboard like an baby. My precious is a daily grinder for almost 5 years -- Mathematica, excessive civ5, a thesis... this machine is amazing.


2011 MBA 4,2 A1369
==================
Replaced fan -- though probably could have salvaged it through cleaning
Replaced SSD -- size matters?
Replaced topcase -- water damage. Grueling repair...
Replaced battery -- duration matters more?
Replaced screws -- since all above were separate ;-p


You got an old top but younger bottom? Maybe you replaced a cracked windshield or toasted brain? Please... join me and share proudly to the world how Frankenstein your MBA is!
 
First I've replaced the battery.

Then..
I've had purchased mint condition 2010 MBA (literally barely used at all, it looked new inside out) not long ago to use for parts.
So...

What came from it was: screen assembly (2011 one cracked just before), I/O board, some screws, bottom cover, CPU fan... It's a shame 2010 one doesn't have a keyboard backlight, otherwise my intention would be to replace the top case as well.

Everything went fine except as it later turned out that 2010 screen assembly doesn't have ambient light sensor, but I wasn't bummed about that at all since I prefer to adjust it on my own anyway and as a side effect I can now turn on my keyboard backlight at all times (no more stupid illumination-lock sign) :)



PS. Replacing top case is not that hard. What's really hard is migrating the keyboard from one top case to another. It's very easy to mess up something and end up with the keys scraping against aluminum etc.



PPS. Since not many of those parts that I replaced were broken to begin with (lol), I voted for battery and display. Battery - normal wear. Screen - I cracked it. :D
 
Last edited:
I've only ever replaced one thing on my 2012 MacBook Air (I got it in 2013 though), which was my SSD, but not because it failed or anything, I just needed a larger drive. :p
 
I recently picked up a 2012 13" MBA which had mainly a totally destroyed screen. Initially I used it for spare parts for my other 2011 13" MBA; took its battery and trackpad. Later, I replaced those, and then also replaced the screen. By my count, it now has parts from 4 different computers. That is fairly Frankenstein imo.
[doublepost=1455840641][/doublepost]

What is that for?
 
I had a logic board failure within a few months of getting my 2011 11" MBA. Apple replaced it, no charge. It's been flawless since. Best computer ever, and I've been at it since mid-1980s. The battery is at 83%, so I'll get that replaced sometime this year probably.
 
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