Mid-2012 MBP - Display Bezel curiosity!

[New2Mac2012]

Hey guys,

So this post is really just a "here's an interesting thing I noticed" thing - wonder if anyone has seen anything like this before?

Background - I've had my iMac for a few years now and I love it. I decided that I liked the idea of having that kind of power/efficiency/usability in portable format, and since I don't have massive funds, I went on eBay to bid on various mid-2012 MacBook Pro's.

I was successful in getting hold of one for a very reasonable price from a reputable seller (in really very good condition considering the age; very few scratches on the casing, no dents, one tiny hairline scratch on the screen, clean keyboard etc - although the optical drive sounds pretty dodge!).

Here's where things get interesting - the machine is undoubtably a MacBook Pro, mid-2012; it has the spec you'd expect, the FW800 port, the correct product number and serial number, and OS X identifies it as such. Thing is though, the display bezel under the screen says "MacBook" and -not- "MacBook Pro"!

Interesting, no? I don't plan on making a big thing about this with the seller - as I say, the machine is in great nick and from the two or three hours play I've had with it, runs perfectly.

Just be interested to know what other people make of this!

 

[JTToft]

Is the "MacBook" label properly centred, or is it slightly to the left, indicating the "Pro" part may have been removed in some way?

 

[Dadioh]

Hey guys,

So this post is really just a "here's an interesting thing I noticed" thing - wonder if anyone has seen anything like this before?

Background - I've had my iMac for a few years now and I love it. I decided that I liked the idea of having that kind of power/efficiency/usability in portable format, and since I don't have massive funds, I went on eBay to bid on various mid-2012 MacBook Pro's.

I was successful in getting hold of one for a very reasonable price from a reputable seller (in really very good condition considering the age; very few scratches on the casing, no dents, one tiny hairline scratch on the screen, clean keyboard etc - although the optical drive sounds pretty dodge!).

Here's where things get interesting - the machine is undoubtably a MacBook Pro, mid-2012; it has the spec you'd expect, the FW800 port, the correct product number and serial number, and OS X identifies it as such. Thing is though, the display bezel under the screen says "MacBook" and -not- "MacBook Pro"!

Interesting, no? I don't plan on making a big thing about this with the seller - as I say, the machine is in great nick and from the two or three hours play I've had with it, runs perfectly.

Just be interested to know what other people make of this!

I assume we are talking about a 13" version? And by "bezel" you mean the glass that covers the entire front of the display? If so it sounds like the glass has been replaced. The original MacBook aluminum unibody in 2008 was called a MacBook. In 2009 they made some changes and called it a MacBook Pro. So conceivably you could buy a replacement glass from the 2008 model and put it on a 2009+ Pro model. I suspect this is what is happening. If you examine the rubber around the outside edge of the glass you may notice some distortions left when the original glass was removed using heat.

 

[iMacDragon]

Or it's had the entire display assembly replaced with wrong part, it could potentially have an older inferior non LED backlit display or such?

 

[Dadioh]

Or it's had the entire display assembly replaced with wrong part, it could potentially have an older inferior non LED backlit display or such?

You can't put a 2008 display assembly on a 2012. The wifi/BT/camera connectors are different. Most likely the glass has been replaced.

 

[New2Mac2012]

Hi all, thank you very much for your replies! To answer in the order your posts were made:


JTToft - The "MacBook" logo is completely central, where you would expect it to be on a MacBook model. There is no possibility that the "Pro" part has come off in this case.


Dadioh - Yup, I'm talking 13" here - 100% this is a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. The first thing I feared was that I'd be sent an aluminium unibody MacBook by mistake! If I run my finger around the screen edge, I can feel a degree of distortion to the rubber edge, so I'm inclined to agree that the glass may have been replaced.


iMacDragon - I also wondered about this; although as Dadioh says if the connectors are different then this is can't be the case.


Terminal identifies the display as follows: LTN133AT09 Color LCD - this does't mean much to me, but perhaps it does to you guys??

TBH, if it's just that the glass has been replaced then I don't think I care that much - it's kinda a "unique" computer if it has the wrong badge on it. If the screen isn't what it should be then that's different, and I'll probably contact the seller to try and negotiate a little refund.

Thank you all for your help so far!

 

[Dadioh]

Hi all, thank you very much for your replies! To answer in the order your posts were made:


JTToft - The "MacBook" logo is completely central, where you would expect it to be on a MacBook model. There is no possibility that the "Pro" part has come off in this case.


Dadioh - Yup, I'm talking 13" here - 100% this is a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. The first thing I feared was that I'd be sent an aluminium unibody MacBook by mistake! If I run my finger around the screen edge, I can feel a degree of distortion to the rubber edge, so I'm inclined to agree that the glass may have been replaced.


iMacDragon - I also wondered about this; although as Dadioh says if the connectors are different then this is can't be the case.


Terminal identifies the display as follows: LTN133AT09 Color LCD - this does't mean much to me, but perhaps it does to you guys??

TBH, if it's just that the glass has been replaced then I don't think I care that much - it's kinda a "unique" computer if it has the wrong badge on it. If the screen isn't what it should be then that's different, and I'll probably contact the seller to try and negotiate a little refund.

Thank you all for your help so far!

That is the correct screen. In the 2009 refresh they increased color gamut vs the 2008 screen. You have the newer, better screen. Most likely they cracked the glass at some point and replaced it with your "unique" MacBook glass. I wouldn't worry about it.

The 2012 13" is sweet spot for Apple. USB3 ports vs the USB2 on 2011 models. Ivy Bridge processor. And you can give it 16GB RAM upgrade and throw in a pair of SSD's if you want. I did

 

[New2Mac2012]

That is the correct screen. In the 2009 refresh they increased color gamut vs the 2008 screen. You have the newer, better screen. Most likely they cracked the glass at some point and replaced it with your "unique" MacBook glass. I wouldn't worry about it.

The 2012 13" is sweet spot for Apple. USB3 ports vs the USB2 on 2011 models. Ivy Bridge processor. And you can give it 16GB RAM upgrade and throw in a pair of SSD's if you want. I did

Thank you so much for your help! Amazing stuff!!

I'd noticed they were still selling the thing; I was really surprised that it hasn't been updated since 2012. I just can't afford to buy one new. When I was bidding, I noticed loads that had been upgraded as you describe (although this one hasn't been) so I might do that at some point. Very happy with my decent-condition, "unique" screen, better-than-half-price Mac!

 

[MrAverigeUser]

BTW:
As for the aluminum bezels for 15" pre-retina models (2009-2012) :
There are some very good 3rd party spare-parts on the market both for screens itself and also for replacement-bezels.

the original apple-bezel (just the little aluminum part, nothing else!) costs a scandalous prohibitive sum as a original apple spare part. So - there are now spare parts for the little aluminum-frame around the screen in case the original one is damaged during repair or by the customer. These 3rd parts parts cost only some $ - and often they have not the words "MacBook" or "MacBookPro" on it - but they do their job as well as the original ones…

I know this because I watched a well-reputated serviceman exchanging two screens of our MBP-line… and had some conversations with him during that time. Very interesting conversation indeed… sort of desillusional infos about "apple customer policy"…. from an professional insider of the "repair-community" ...

 

[New2Mac2012]

BTW:
As for the aluminum bezels for 15" pre-retina models (2009-2012) :
There are some very good 3rd party spare-parts on the market both for screens itself and also for replacement-bezels.

the original apple-bezel (just the little aluminum part, nothing else!) costs a scandalous prohibitive sum as a original apple spare part. So - there are now spare parts for the little aluminum-frame around the screen in case the original one is damaged during repair or by the customer. These 3rd parts parts cost only some $ - and often they have not the words "MacBook" or "MacBookPro" on it - but they do their job as well as the original ones…

I know this because I watched a well-reputated serviceman exchanging two screens of our MBP-line… and had some conversations with him during that time. Very interesting conversation indeed… sort of desillusional infos about "apple customer policy"…. from an professional insider of the "repair-community" ...

That's very interesting to know - I mean don't get me wrong, I love my Apple products but it doesn't surprise me that repair/replacement costs are as high as they are. Having looked closer, I can clearly see where the glass cover has been replaced - and as you say, it's clearly doing it's job even though it (probably) isn't an original Apple part.

At some point, the SuperDrive in this MBP is going to go - I know it! It works, but it sounds horrific on start-up. Definitely won't be having that done my Apple.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

That's very interesting to know - I mean don't get me wrong, I love my Apple products but it doesn't surprise me that repair/replacement costs are as high as they are. Having looked closer, I can clearly see where the glass cover has been replaced - and as you say, it's clearly doing it's job even though it (probably) isn't an original Apple part.

At some point, the SuperDrive in this MBP is going to go - I know it! It works, but it sounds horrific on start-up. Definitely won't be having that done my Apple.

The guy who exchanged the two screens on two of our MBPs 15" did this perfectly. 3rd party spare parts are NOT necessarily worse than original parts. The guy explained me that - as with every 3rd party parts - there are good products (sometimes even exactly the same as the original apple parts or at least same quality) and very crappy ones.
I cannot see any trace of his work and everything works very well since - for a fraction of the apple-price (if they even would think one single second about repair…. )

As always in real life, you have to search for well-reputated services… and this guy had definitely more knowledge about macs than many so-called "apple store genius" have…

as for the replacement-bezel: It looks exactly and perfectly like the original one - but without the print "MacBookPro" on it. I don´t need the print on the bezel - I know since the purchase in 2011/2012 that it is in fact a MBP…..