It's parts shopping time!

I may be able to pick up a broken MacBook unibody (aluminum) for a good price. It seems to need...

1. HDD (will any 2.5" SATA drive work?)
2. OS (do I just buy the SL CD? Is there a way to install it on a new, clean HDD?)
3. LCD inverter? (The screen displays very dimly, so I figured it'd need a new inverter... where can I find this?)
4. Touchpad (not too hard to find).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

1) ALMOST any 2.5" SATA will do. I've heard some of the new 700GB drives are a little too tall, cannot confirm personally. 500GB or under will work.

2) You can do a full install with the $29.00 upgrade disc. It does not have any kind of activation/registration whatsoever. This includes installing on fresh brand new HDDs with no O/S onboard. Google, you'll find plenty of information on the subject.

3) There are authorized repair shops outside of Apple stores. I would suggest trying to find one of those and contact them regarding the issue. Short term I would recommend an external monitor, realize this limits usage.

4) Roughly same as 3, add an external mouse for short term use.

Other than that I'd see if you can get a free estimate from an independent repair shop [if you go that route] to see if there is anything else that needs repaired on the unit. After that, I would price out EVERYTHING BEFORE making any purchases. Also, make sure you feel confident performing all repairs before purchasing anything. HDD, O/S are easy, Touchpad shouldn't be too bad. . . I can't say about the inverter. You can always fall back on a repair center for anything you feel you don't want to risk. (or don't want to assume liability for)

Other than that, just keep an eye on pricing. If it costs half the price of a new notebook is it really worth it?

Good luck, hope you have some success ^^

 

search for Mac parts on online stores and ebay... do not go through an official Apple repair place, as they will sell you official Apple parts that will end up costing more than you spent on the whole laptop... Apple has insanely high parts pricing.

 

^^^this. and what if it costs even more than half? 75%?

 

Assuming you can get the parts reasonably, you might as well get a Box Set if you don't have the original DVD's.

 

honestly I dont think you can get the glass trackpad seperatly. Ive heard of apple wanting to replace the whole case when something happens to it. Now this is just what ive heard. you can check ebay. All im saying is this might not be as easy at it sounds to replace. The inverter you can find on ebay.

before you buy find all the parts you need and add up the cost plus shipping plus what they want for the laptop and see if its truely worth it or just better to buy refurbished from apple. they have had the unibodys as low as 700 in thier refurb store.

 

http://www.ifixit.com/

Although it appears since it is unibody that to get the trackpad (which is glass covered) you have to buy the whole upper unibody assembly which also includes the keyboard $250-$300 depending if you want "A stock" or "B stock" (ie: used but no scratches or slightly more used)

Non-backlit is only $229