What to do with a broken screen 2012 13" MBA? Sell or Fix?

[oneMadRssn]

I have come to acquire a 2012 13" Macbook Air, 1.8Ghz/4GB/128GB. It however has a totally destroyed screen. On the bright side, it was free.

Long story short, it probably needs an entire new clamshell top portion. By my quick research on ebay, this costs ~$250 used for a good condition one, or about $400 for a new one.

Other than the screen, and some light scratching on the bottom, it is in excellent shape. Indeed, I am told the screen was disassembled before the computer was ever used, so it has no cycles on the battery and was really not used at all. The keyboard and trackpad show no signs of use whatsoever.

I am not sure whether the backlight still works, so I am not sure where a new LCD only will be sufficient.

Is it worth buying the replacement screen and fixing it? Seems a decent shape Macbook Air of this type is worth about $600-$700 on ebay. So in theory, I could get about $200 in profit. Or I would get to keep and enjoy a functional MBA.

On the flip side, it looks like I can get a bit more profit by parting it out and selling the parts individually on ebay. This would require a bit more work though.

What are your thoughts, MR MBA aficionados?

 

[Willo34]

I would try to sell the machine without a new screen.
It has the advantage that its a 2012 model, which means you can still replace or upgrade parts on it.
You might be able to get a few hundred for it as it is now, without having to take it apart.

 

[vjicecool]

i have a suggestion

Buy a used cheap monitor along with blue tooth keyboard and mouse

you will have a full blown MBA.

 

[oneMadRssn]

i have a suggestion

Buy a used cheap monitor along with blue tooth keyboard and mouse

you will have a full blown MBA.

I've thought about that, but this seems like a waste.

I'm leaning towards buying a good condition used or new screen for it and doing the repair.

Does anyone know of a place, other than ebay or ifixit, to get parts for a Mac like this?

 

[cerberusss]

i have a suggestion

Buy a used cheap monitor along with blue tooth keyboard and mouse

you will have a full blown MBA.

I use a 2010 MBP in such a fashion, except I have it hooked up to a nice big 32" TV. We don't have cable but watch movies, YouTube, our national broadcaster etc., works great.