Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

How to Replace a Broken Laptop Screen

by Tim Stevens on November 7, 2007 at 03:31 PM

How to Replace A Broken Laptop ScreenLaptops are wonderful things -- most of the time. They let workaholics think they're productive while watching 'CSI' at night, they let bloggers post away from coffee shops and other out-of-the-way places, and they can even bring hope to developing nations.

But, like many expensive gadgets, laptops are not the sturdiest things on the planet, especially those big, bright LCD screens. All it takes is one accidental fall from a desk or a clumsy step on your laptop case and that horrible crunching noise you hear is money being flushed down the drain for a fix. Luckily, we found a helpful guide that shows you how to do the repair yourself, and save big bucks.

Now, mind you, not everyone will be quite capable of doing this, as it does require disassembly of the LCD housing and removal of the fragile panel, which may even be oozing toxic chemicals. But the process is fairly straightforward, since it essentially just requires that you remove the screws around the edge of the screen (assuming your laptop has some), then pry the thing in two, Nextm you peel the actual LCD display away from the back of the housing, then unplug it and swap in the new one. It's no worse than changing the oil in your car, but requires a bit more precision.

The one thing the guide doesn't do is tell you just where the heck to purchase that replacement LCD. After doing some looking around we've found that ScreenTek seems to be the most highly regarded replacement LCD reseller, and it even makes finding the right screen for your lappy a piece of cake.

Even so, you're still going to drop between $300 and $600 depending on the size of your display, and potentially even more if you pay someone else to do it for you. Yeah, ouch.

Maybe you should just watch where you're stepping (or dropping) next time, clumsy.

From Apartment Therapy

Related Links:

Tags: cracked LCD, CrackedLcd, how-to, Laptop, Laptop How-Tos, LaptopHow-tos, summeradv, summeradvice

Comments

2

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular