Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

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ertyu
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Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

I am changing the battery of my 2015 MacBook air because there's a system recommendation to do so (old battery still performs fairly alright, I don't game and I've gotten into the habit of bringing my charger with me, so it's mostly fine). I am also changing the keyboard because commonly used keys like e, s, t and so on often come off or the little rubber ... things .. that the key bounces on travel and need to be poked into place with a needle.

While watching youtube videos of the repair, it seems like while the battery replacement is pretty straightforward, in order to replace the keyboard i basically need to disassemble and reassemble the entire macbook.

This is making me think it might be a good idea to use this as an occasion to replace other components that might be close to worn out.

Is this a good idea when the component has not failed?

On the one hand, even if it has not failed, I've used it daily for the past 7 years. Something like the fan, for instance, might be getting close to being worn out. If I replace it, the new fan will be -- well, new. Plus, I will have done a one-time overhaul and the likelihood future repairs will be needed is lower.

On the other hand, any components I replace will not be original (meaning, branded and from Apple) so they will likely be of lower quality. There seem to be many companies selling interestingly branded but inexpensive components - at least inexpensive compared to what one would get at a supposedly official repair shop (where, tbh, I don't trust the repair person not to put the same off-brand components in my machine anyway).

Would you replace anything other than the keyboard and the battery at this stage, and if so, what?

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by mountainFrugal »

You might take a look at the mac forums for your specific model. There may be other specific parts that are known to wear out and at that age most of the bad parts will have likely shown themselves in mass. I have done some premptive maintenance on older laptops (hard drives) and phones (change screen/change battery) using this approach and has seemed to work well. Once you learn to replace a few parts with the macbook taken apart, any new issue will not be as bad. Make sure to ground yourself or touch some grounded metal frequently when doing hardware repair to discharge any static.

ertyu
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Thu Jul 21, 2022 6:28 pm
You might take a look at the mac forums for your specific model.
Thanks for the advice, esp. the grounding thing, that's new to me.

Which forums, on apple.com? Or here https://www.mac-forums.com/

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by mountainFrugal »

I was thinking mac-forums, but I am sure if you do some googling with your model and problem other stuff will come up.

rref
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by rref »

Perhaps apply new thermal paste to the CPU and GPU if you have to remove the heat sink in order to change the keyboard anyway.

ertyu
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

rref wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 1:45 am
Perhaps apply new thermal paste to the CPU and GPU if you have to remove the heat sink in order to change the keyboard anyway.
Good advice; I didn't know thermal paste was a thing but have since looked it up. I will do this, thank you!

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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by jacob »

Look [2015 Macbook Air] up on ifixit.com. They're usually rated for difficulty. Start with the easiest one to gain confidence.

Do like the dentist/doctor, only fix one thing at the time. This way you know what where it went wrong if you caused a problem. If you do everything at once and something doesn't work, you have to debug which operation caused the problem.

Also standard rule: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

ertyu
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

Update: I succeeded with the macbook maintenance. Under the if it ain't broke, don't fix it rule, I did not replace the whole keyboard. Rather, someone online sold me some glue which they claimed can be used to glue the rubber ... bouncers? of the keys back in place. The ultimate culprit is the poor maintenance id been doing on the macbook because I didn't know better. I should have been replacing the thermal paste every 2 years or so, but I let it go 7. As a result, the laptop ran hot and the glue that held the bouncers in place must have softened. So the most heavy use keys are seeing their bouncers travel.

I will try gluing the bouncer, if that fails I will order a new key, and if that fails, I will try to change the whole keyboard.

Because the battery was screwed in place rather than glued down, it was easy to replace. I cleaned the inside, too. The track pad, especially, is now much more responsive. With the new thermal paste, there is also easy to spot difference in how hot the machine gets. I am thankful my macbook is an older model and everything wasn't yet designed to fully eliminate my right to repair.

It was quite interesting that when i asked for advice in various forums online, the most common response i received was, why are you even bothering with repairs, a refurbished 2015 macbook can be got for 250 dollars. Ditto with replacing the battery on my phone, the saga of which i will recount elsewhere haha. I am not sure if it's penetrated the culture to such an extent or whether there are people whose job it is to push "why don't you replace it! here's where you can buy a new one!", the common view was that i was stupid and silly to want to repair when a much easier option is available for just a couple of hundred dollars more.

Part of it was the murica-centeredness of the responses: everyone assumed I can "just" bring my macbook or my phone over to the nearest authorized repair place and sleep tight because no one would scam me as they (apple) are responsible if a repair goes wrong. well, in my case, not only is it not feasible to bring it to the nearest authorized service center, I am also dealing with repairmen who pride themselves both on how skilled they are and on how well they can rip off those who are not. As an expat, I am also an outsider. I am ripe pickings (this is what ended up happening with my phone). Furthermore, my income is smaller than that of someone who works in the US. That same "just 70 bucks" that would cover the cost of authorized cell phone battery replacement is a much bigger % of my take-home pay and of my monthly spend, and has larger purchasing power in terms of the local cost of living.

Overall, I did not regret attempting the repair. I feel much less ignorant, with better understanding how my machine works, and more likely to trust my abilities to attempt another repair in the future, on this laptop or on another one. I also feel more in control of my own life and less at the mercy of the sharks in the skilled trades. I have gained a lot in self-efficacy and this alone is good.

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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by jacob »

ertyu wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:24 am
Overall, I did not regret attempting the repair. I feel much less ignorant, with better understanding how my machine works, and more likely to trust my abilities to attempt another repair in the future, on this laptop or on another one. I also feel more in control of my own life and less at the mercy of the sharks in the skilled trades. I have gained a lot in self-efficacy and this alone is good.
This!

... is worth much more than the money you saved.

ertyu
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

It turns out I was a bit premature calling the macbook repairs done. As I mentioned in another thread, a bunch of keys started coming off and it also had some issues turning on and off - sometimes, it won't turn on. So I bought a new top panel + keyboard, stripped my all macbook down, and reassembled to the new top panel.

Laptop guts:

Image

Screen, old top panel, and new top panel. The loudspeakers and track pad have already been transferred to the new panel:

Image

I cleaned some corrosion off the logic board which I missed the previous time, including from the bottom, and brushed all parts off fully.

The macbook has now been reassembled and it works (pictured next to old top panel):

Image

Altogether, what I did was:

- clean guts and reapply thermal paste
- replace keyboard
- replace battery
- buy new charger because Adamant IT on youtube said it's bad for the machine to use a fraying charger even if it's been taped

The parts I used for the repair aren't original - the keyboard is much clankier while the chagrer is larger and has a stiffer cable. But on the whole, I am calling this machine refurbished. I now feel confident enough to complete any repair on this that doesn't involve soldering elements to the logic board (and potentially LCD replacement/wifi antenna issues, anything involving screen/top cover disassembly looks pretty evil).

Incidentally, I stumbled on an unethical ERE life pro-tip, which I am sure a non-insignificant part of repairmen already practice: complete repairs via logic board soldering, charge clients for full logic board replacement. Pocket the difference. A significant part of your clients would probably never open the laptop to confirm or deny, and if your soldering job is clean enough, they might not even notice.

On the whole, I am pretty satisfied. I went from sheer terror at touching the electronics for fear I'd mess something up to reasonable confidence in my abilities to execute basic repairs given youtube instruction I can learn from. And I gave my machine new life. Here's to another seven years of work haha :lol:

zbigi
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by zbigi »

ertyu wrote:
Wed Aug 17, 2022 3:30 am

The parts I used for the repair aren't original - the keyboard is much clankier while the chagrer is larger and has a stiffer cable.
FWIW, I've read that the cheap Apple charger knockoffs can also cause problems. Internaly, they have a completely different (and much simpler) design than the original, so they behave differently under some boundary conditions.

ertyu
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by ertyu »

@zbigi good to know, i didn't know that

NewBlood
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Re: Do I fix it if it ain't broke? 2015 MacBook Air

Post by NewBlood »

Nice work, ertyu!

I had the same experience on a forum, "6yr old phone, lol, just upgrade already, you dumba**!"

sigh...
I've made it my mission to keep my phone and laptop (Thinkpad T420s) running for as long as humanly possible, and the feeling of sticking it to the man and knowledge gained in the process are very empowering.

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