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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2065 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 6, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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I had a little party this Friday and woke up to find that someone had stepped on my macbook. I'm partially to blame for this, I shouldn't have left it on the ground (albeit in a room that was supposed to be locked, under my bed) and I don't think anyone will fess up, most likely because they won't remember doing so. Regardless, the tiny 5 millimeter indent on the edge of the case by the webcam managed to strike some sort of achilles heel and almost the entire screen is now non-functional, save a small sliver at the top. This allows me to screen mirror to my ipad (and is how I'm writing this post).

I spent all of yesterday trying to find a place that could fix the screen and found out that nobody in a 1-hour radius has the apple approved replacement for my screen in stock (Small college town in bumfuck nowhere). The nearest Apple store says the screen will be $500, with a $100 labor charge. The compounding issue to all of this is that I don't have a car, and ubers to the medium sized city (an hour away) are like $80 for a one way trip. This means that going to the Apple store adds $160 to anything they do. In fact, it's even worse than this, because they only do overnight repairs, meaning I would have to go to the city, drop off the computer, and then come back the next day to pick it up. The other option is the local computer repair shop, which is only 10 minutes away by bike. However, they are charging an $600 for the screen, and I'm not sure how much for the labor.

Right now, I'll probably go with the ~$700 local process, because it saves me time and is cheaper overall. Does anybody have any other suggestions?

$700? You can almost buy a new MacBook Air M4 with that. Why not upgrade?

Honestly didn't think of that, and it seems like a shame. This one is only a year old. I'll look into it.

Do you have to drop it off at that specific apple store, or can you ship it to somewhere and get it shipped back? Even super-express return shipping is probably cheaper than $320.

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