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How to deal w/ dented Macbook Pro case top?

P

pyramis

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 2, 2008
63
0
Palo Alto, CA
At a recent dinner gathering at my house, an empty glass jar took a five foot drop onto the top of my closed Macbook Pro, leaving a sizable dent in the top. :eek: I wasn't mad -- it was an accident and there was only cosmetic damage. (I'm kicking myself for not springing for one of those sturdy shells.)

What advice do you have for dealing with this?

I can't imagine there's a good way to fix this dent directly. Is it worth it to buy a replacement case part?
 
Ouch.

You poor sod.

My first reaction would be to cut my wrists!

But after about 15 seconds of searching online I found all is not lost

A unibody screen and housing is 845 USD!

I bet you may decide to try and learn to live with that ding now eh?

look here-

http://www.myservice.com/macbookpro.html

once again my commiseration's.


doris
 
Not worth the repair. Just live w/ it and prepare to discount it heavily when you get ready to sell it or use it until it's functionally obsolete -- even if just as a back up or 2nd machine.
 
Yeah since apple distributes the entire display as a housing + LCD even if you do get one cheap on the aftermarket it'll probably be a shoddy part rip anyway. A brand new one as stated above will cost close to 1000 bucks.

if you have an extended AppleCare agreement you may want to bring it in and ask them to make sure that damage doesn't invalidate the agreement. If it does you can get a refund now instead of being told later that they refuse to work on it.

Good lux
 
Mind you, you could always try ringing up your household insurance supplier.

Maybe after chucking your mac out of an upstairs window, dropping it down a well, or similar.

doris
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Yeah since apple distributes the entire display as a housing + LCD even if you do get one cheap on the aftermarket it'll probably be a shoddy part rip anyway. A brand new one as stated above will cost close to 1000 bucks.
Click to expand...

Darn. I was hoping they could just swap out the top plate.

Eddyisgreat said:
if you have an extended AppleCare agreement you may want to bring it in and ask them to make sure that damage doesn't invalidate the agreement. If it does you can get a refund now instead of being told later that they refuse to work on it.
Click to expand...

I do have extended AppleCare. Jeez, I hope this doesn't invalidate the agreement. That was a very expensive accident.
 
Last edited:
pyramis said:
Darn. I was hoping they could just swap out the top plate.



I do have extended AppleCare. Jeez, I hope this doesn't invalidate the agreement. That was a very expensive accident. Here's a pic.

dent.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh MY good lord!

You poor, poor bugger.

That, if it were mine, would ruin my year.

Perhaps you should set up a web-site and we could all chip a few quid in to get that abomination repaired.:)

Yeeeurcch, your MBP will give me nightmares tonight.

doris
 
But if its the NON! unibody old style macbook in the UK they have the top cover on ebay for £29!
 
What I would do is buy a vinyl decal (there's hundreds on etsy.com) for the macbook and just cover the dent up. Out of sight, out of mind.
 
aibo82 said:
But if its the NON! unibody old style macbook in the UK they have the top cover on ebay for £29!
Click to expand...

Yes, it is the 15" Macbook Pro model just previous to Unibody.

Okay, I'm looking on Ebay and I see plain aluminum lids for sale (no LCD). What do I do with one of these assuming I buy one? Swap it out myself? :confused:
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_tr...nkw=macbook+pro+lid&_sacat=See-All-Categories

If there's a distinct difference between unibody and pre-unibody hardware, might the Apple Store be able to replace just my lid without having to replace the LCD screen as well?
 
maximus06 said:
What I would do is buy a vinyl decal (there's hundreds on etsy.com) for the macbook and just cover the dent up. Out of sight, out of mind.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking of doing. But as Chupa Chupa said above, there's the issue of what to do when I want to pass ownership on to someone else. I'd like to trade-up to a unibody in a year.
 
I put a big divot in the bottom front corner of my 2007 MBP less than 3 months after buying it. I dropped my laptop bag while going through security at the airport and it landed right on the corner. It was bad enough that it cracked the plastic bezel joining the top/bottom case together and 'puckered' the metal on the bottom case over the optical drive slot. Other than cosmetic issues and the fact that the corner will now scratch up my wrist if I'm not careful, it didn't do anything bad to the MBP. I've had it in for Applecare-related repairs/replacement parts (batteries, logic board, etc) and they noted each time that the unit had a damaged case, but never gave me any hassles.

I had a 2006 Macbook repaired by some 3rd party shop out in California..name escapes me. It cost almost $1000 for a logic board and case replacement. I don't think I'd ever do that again.
 
Lols that little dent has your undies in a bundle? 2 of my 4 MBPs would make yours look like brand new! Slap a "Vista Ready" :eek: sticker on it and be done. For real you'll get over it - it may take a week or a month, but you'll get over it.
 
itommyboy said:
Lols that little dent has your undies in a bundle? 2 of my 4 MBPs would make yours look like brand new! Slap a "Vista Ready" :eek: sticker on it and be done. For real you'll get over it - it may take a week or a month, but you'll get over it.
Click to expand...

Honestly my undies are not bundled -- other posters on this thread got more upset just from reading about it than I did from living it. :p I'm ready to slap a decal on it and put it out of sight. I'm more worried about transferring ownership down the line.
 
pyramis said:
Honestly my undies are not bundled -- other posters on this thread got more upset just from reading about it than I did from living it. :p I'm ready to slap a decal on it and put it out of sight. I'm more worried about transferring ownership down the line.
Click to expand...

I vote for the replacement cover. try to do it yourself. maybe there's a tut on iFixit...if you only want to do it to sell it, use a case now, and replace it right before selling it, so it'll be brand new...you might wanna get a replacement now though, in case they stop making them by the time you want to sell yours.
 
there are tons of video guides online on how to take these things apart even for unibody they have the top metal parts available the best shops that sell the best parts r usually the ones that have the DIY vids
 
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