When my 2018 MBP touch bar glitched and a replacement was the whole-ass “upper case” including the battery, I knew we were cooked. Meanwhile, in my old 2012 MacBook pro I’m swapping parts like a madman to enjoy it, like you should.
You can replace just the touch bar, I’ve done it, but it’s a nightmare. Much cheaper and less waste though
That thing is seriously glued on. Like people complain about the battery adhesive but it’s not really that bad, some solvent takes it out pretty quick on most models (though it’s still not necessary and would be much better if it was just screwed into place). That touch bar though, that glue is crazy and any solvent or heat you use has to be super carefully managed because you’ll melt the keys very easily. Some tutorials have you basically just smash the shit out of it and scrape away the resulting shards but that seemed like a bad idea.
For the record I did heat from the rear and light application of acetone. Took a bit but I was able to pry it up although I did break the first couple. Doesn’t matter really but it can make it harder to prep the space for the new one.
Also fun times: on some models if the touch bar glitches out it shorts the motherboard and causes random reboots
When my 2018 MBP touch bar glitched and a replacement was the whole-ass “upper case” including the battery, I knew we were cooked. Meanwhile, in my old 2012 MacBook pro I’m swapping parts like a madman to enjoy it, like you should.
You can replace just the touch bar, I’ve done it, but it’s a nightmare. Much cheaper and less waste though
That thing is seriously glued on. Like people complain about the battery adhesive but it’s not really that bad, some solvent takes it out pretty quick on most models (though it’s still not necessary and would be much better if it was just screwed into place). That touch bar though, that glue is crazy and any solvent or heat you use has to be super carefully managed because you’ll melt the keys very easily. Some tutorials have you basically just smash the shit out of it and scrape away the resulting shards but that seemed like a bad idea.
For the record I did heat from the rear and light application of acetone. Took a bit but I was able to pry it up although I did break the first couple. Doesn’t matter really but it can make it harder to prep the space for the new one.
Also fun times: on some models if the touch bar glitches out it shorts the motherboard and causes random reboots
Yeah ~2014-2015 I think is when they started really soldering everything together and adding adhesive or their new special screws to everything.
Edit: fat fingered wrong year