Introduction: MacBook LCD Replacement Cheat

About: I work at a nuclear pharmacy, Microsoft, A+, Cisco certified. Lazy.

This is for anyone that needs to replace their broken LCD and doesn't have the time or patience to disassemble the entire laptop just to unplug the back light inverter power. This will require two small solder spots.

Step 1: What I Suggest You Will Need

Soldering equipment (Solder iron, solder)
Heat shrink tubing
Small Phillips head screwdriver
Wire strippers and cutter
Double sided tape (The thin scotch kind, not foam)
Old credit card or putty knife

Step 2: Removing the Screen Bezel

First, take the credit card or putty knife and slide it under the bezel in the bottom right hand corner. You will notice that the bezel there looks like it overlaps another piece of plastic. slide it in there and gently slide around the outer edge of the screen until you undo all of the clips. Along the bottom of the screen you will just have to gently pull to get those clips open.

You will note that these clips may change shape and that's why I suggest the tape. I didn't bother with them and actually pulled them all off and went with only the tape. (the bottom of the bezel and around the camera still clip regardless.)

Step 3: Removing the Broken or Bad LCD

Once the bezel is off it is then time to remove the screen. The screen has 12 screws that are holding it by its chassis to the lid. I marked them in the picture. Only remove those 12 the other are unnecessary.

Once you have those screws out, we need to remove the chassis from the LCD. First at the top, the iSight camera needs to come off. It is held on by one screw on either side if it. once those screws are off you can gently pull off the iSight and move it out of the way.

Next there are three screws holding the two sides on the LCD. doesnt matter which side is first. The left side has the wifi antennas soldered to it so when you undo that, it has to stay relatively close to the lid. The right side has the iSight and mic USB cord but it isnt connected so that piece can be moved out of the way if you wish.

Now all that is connected to the screen is the VGA connector under a piece of tape on the back of the LCD and the inverter power.

Un-tape the VGA connector ribbon and gently unplug it.

Step 4: Cutting the Power

Lay the bad LCD down onto the keyboard.

get the wire cutters/strippers and cut the inverter power cords (two wires on bottom of LCD) AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN GET THEM TO THE BAD LCD.
That way you have the most wire to work with.

Discard the bad LCD.

Now lay down the new LCD over the keyboard. Cut off the power connector AS CLOSE TO THE CONNECTOR AS YOU CAN GET. Again for the most wire to work with. Strip the four wires (Two coming from inside laptop, two coming from new LCD)

Slide heat shrink tube onto two of the wires and keep it out of the way for now.

Note: My laptop had black and gray power wires and the new screen had pink and yellow. After testing the gray was positive and the pink was positive. You do need to know which is which because if the polarity is reversed your back light will not stay powered, and may ruin the inverter.

Now make sure you solder positive/positive and negative/negative.

after the solder cools, slide the heat shrink tube over and shrink it up. (I run the soldering iron up and down the tube to heat it up instead of a lighter since these are tight workspace conditions and you don't want to melt your laptop.

Step 5: Test!

Before putting it all back together, make sure it works.

If it does, power down and put it all back together.

Step 6: Tape the Bezel

If you are like me and also ditched the bezel clips, this is where you apply the double sided tape around the back of the bezel and reapply it.

Enjoy your new screen and your MacBook's new life!