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The other day, I was walking around the house with my Apple Powerbook Ti in hand, surfing the internet or writing something, I forget. Now, I know what you're thinking, and no, I didn't drop it. I walked by the fireplace, and noticed that it needed a log, so I set the Powerbook down. No, I didn't set it on the fireplace, but on the next available flat surface: the floor. Along comes our sweet son/daughter/dog (I'm not telling who to protect the innocent), who proceeded to trip and land right on the open, running Powerbook. Our son/daughter/dog was fine; the laptop, however, was not.

The screen went dark on impact and I immediately feared the logic board had cracked, or at least that the LCD was broken. Not so. It was simply a broken hinge that had snapped with such force that it severed a small black wire between the Powerbook's base and the screen. The wire was actually sticking out of a gap between the hinge and the bottom of the LCD.

Fearing that the Powerbook was broken and not just the LCD, I quickly hooked the computer up to an external monitor -- everything was fine. The powerbook was undamaged except for the hinge and that small, balck wire. OK, not too bad...

I googled around and found a new hinge; it turns out there are a lot of places selling them, and they go for anywhere between $79.00 to $244.00. I called the $244.00 people first, figuring they probably had the best tech support, or at least support that was better than the $79.00 guys. I explained what happened, wondering if I also needed to purchase the video wiring harness they had for sale on their site as well.

They informed me that the small black cable was most likely the ground cable for the back-light on the LCD. He also let me know that this particular wire was probably too short to be spliced, and they could not warranty the splice if they attempted it.

They would charge me $344.00 for the hinge replacement, $100.00 for the splice job, and could give no guarantee that it would work when it arrived back on my doorstep. He then told me that I could purchase an LCD display from them for only $699.00. (This is actually a pretty good price now that I've shopped around.) This price includes labor. So, the total price to replace the hinge and the display would be approximately $1,400.00, and would come with a 90 day warranty. Interestingly, that is the exact price of a new 12" G4 Aluminum or a used PowerBook 15" Titanium on Ebay.

I emailed a few other places and got pretty much the same story with only the prices changing. One guy cautioned me that taking apart the titanium cladding on the G4 myself would most likely damage the cladding and would probably destroy the LCD (it turns out the LCD is glued onto the titanium case with strong epoxy.) I think he was just trying to sell me on their service (they were $1,600.00 for the hinge and LCD.)

So, for $344.00 plus $90.00 in overnight shipping charges (they provide the box), I could possibly get my Powerbook up and running. Or not. Or, for $1,400.00, I could get it up and running for sure.

Naturally, I choose the third option: buy a hinge and try to splice the cable myself. I would be taking my own chances on the splice, the cladding, and the LCD. My reasoning: I'm out $100.00 for the hinge no matter what (I choose a $99.00 hinge because the place selling them for $79.00 seemed a little shady), and if I totally blow it and crack the LCD, I'm about where I am now; a laptop with a dead screen hooked up to an external monitor. Even if I kill the LCD, the upside is I could completely remove it and use the Powerbook as my own Mac mini with a built in 2.5 hour UPS (probably longer since it doesn't have to power the display.)

If the operation is sucessful, I'll have my Powerbook working again for only $130.00 (including shipping for the hinge and the $9.99 Take-Apart Manual I purchased for the Ti Powerbook.) Plus, if the splice comes undone, I'll know how to fix it again.

Either way, I learn something about taking apart a PowerBook, and a valuable lesson about where NOT to set it in the future.

Stay tuned and I'll let you know the operation goes. I'll even take pictures unless I inadvertantly set it on the floor and it gets stepped on too...

[Read the rest of the story: The Repair of the Ti Powerbook.]