
Fixing your own laptop, and the importance of do-it-yourself to society - riboflavin
http://justindunham.net/2012/08/fixing-your-own-laptop-and-the-importance-of-do-it-yourself-to-society/
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rogerbinns
For those that have never experienced it, you should try Lenovo Thinkpads some
day. On the underside every screw has a little pictogram so you can easily
tell which ones are needed to remove the keyboard versus the hard drive for
example.

You can enter a system's serial number at
[http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-
parts/partsLooku...](http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-
parts/partsLookup.page) and it will tell you exactly which parts went into it.
For example some systems may have exactly the same model number, but some are
made with LG panels and some with Samsung. This will tell you exactly.

Then they have hardware maintenance manuals at
[http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-
manuals/detail.pa...](http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-
manuals/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-39298) which show you exactly how to take
the laptop apart and change/repair parts.

IMHO they have done an excellent job. They even design the keyboard and system
so that fluid on the keyboard drains out the bottom. (Note it isn't
waterproof, just a good effort to ensure a minor spill doesn't destroy the
machine.) One example video is at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM>

And the proof is in the pudding - a friend who managed to break one of her
hinges was able to lookup the exact part, order it, take the machine apart and
replace the hinge and put it all back together without any difficulties or
guesswork.

~~~
SeppoErviala
ThinkPads regularly obsolete before they get broken beyond reasonable repair.

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moepstar
Fixing laptops is all good and yes, i too think you should take broken things
apart and at least try to repair them and i do it regularly..

Opening the very 17" MacBook Pro i'm writing this comment from has been a
satisfying experience when i've replaced my harddisk - it's really beautiful
and well-designed from the inside.

However, that whole fix-something-yourself-when-it's-broken may very well
become a thing of the past - especially with MacBooks which always prided
themselves of being upgradeable and even mentioning the needed steps in the
manuals.

You just won't have that opportunity with the new Retina one as most of its
internals are directly soldered to the logicboard :(

I sincerely hope that this trend won't continue with newer models.

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teeja
"One wonderful thing about do-it-yourself, as a movement, is that it is a
powerful way of creating more skilled technicians..."

The DIY "movement" actually existed since at least the beginning of the "radio
movement" back in the late 1800s. Not until about the mid-1980s did it start
to wane (as disposable lighters and more complex car engines and electronics
packages with oddball fasteners came into fashion, and Japanese electronics
displaced US-made). Check back into the early years of PC computing (before
IBM introduced the PC and emphasis shifted to business) and you'll find a
vital and extensive DIY "computer movement" existed. (Read Kilobyte and Byte
magazines.)

This may be one benefit of the financial raping of USA ... the (partial, at-
least) rebirth of the realization that it's not rocket science, and the
satisfactions of DIY electronics far outweigh the conveniences of box stores.

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ja27
I've repaired quite a few laptops. I was lucky to have inherited a stack of
older Dell Latitudes from work when our kids were younger, so I got rather
good at swapping parts to keep the best ones running. Besides swapping
keyboards and screens, I've even soldered replacement power connectors on two
laptop motherboards and re-worked a Nintendo DS with a broken case and upper
screen cable. After most of those jobs I've said, "never again" as they've
rarely made financial sense after I figure the parts and time spent. But it is
a neat feeling of accomplishment.

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SwearWord
I'm sure you do your own plumbing when your pipes have problems and fix your
car when it breaks down. You probably even blow your own glass to repair a
broken window, right?

Specialization is good, it helps society move forward, don't fight it.

~~~
greenyoda
You can save a lot of money by fixing a leaky drain pipe with $5 worth of
epoxy instead of calling a plumber for $200.

Besides, being able to fix something yourself gives you a sense of
satisfaction that you just can't get from paying someone to do it.

~~~
stuffihavemade
To me, the most valuable resource is time. Sure, the epoxy might be only 5
dollars, but it might take me half a day of valuable weekend time to fix the
problem correctly. Or, I could have had paid the plumber and used that same
time to doing something more education/interesting.

~~~
zalew
Yes, time is valuable. Changing wheels and doing basic maintanance to your car
by yourself is not only cheaper but way quicker, so better do it yourself.

~~~
stuffihavemade
No way can you change your own oil faster than one of those drive through
places. Just going to the store to buy oil and a filter is going to take
longer than driving through.

~~~
zalew
The case of changing oil is that you need a place to utilize it (workshops
have a license for that), because you won't drain it to the sewers, will you?
So, changing oil yourself is quite pointless.

~~~
fr0sty
Not sure where you live but auto part stores in the US accept used oils for
recycling free of charge.

