SitDown. StartUp.

About a month ago while in Crested Butte, CO I had an unfortunate incident where I spilled a succulent glass of grapefruit juice on my trackpad. I quickly wiped it up but soon realized that the trackpad was no longer functional.

Even worse, my warranty had expired almost 24 hours before this unfortunate fruit drink compromised my trackpad. I called in to Apple and found out they wanted a cool $500 to replace the trackpad with parts + labor. This had all the workings of another DIY adventure; to see if it could be fun and affordable at the same time.

Surprisingly, replacing the trackpad on my own was pretty cheap:

White 13inch Unibody Trackpad Replacement Part: $59.99
Tri-Wing ScrewDriver: $8.95 (for removing the Apple battery housing)
Online How-To: iFixit
Total cost to replace the Macbook Trackpad: $84.93

Replacing the trackpad is slightly more tricky than installing memory or a hard drive because you’ll need to prop up the trackpad as you position several tiny screws (steady hands required). I recommend magnetic driver bits to catch the screws. You’ll also need to beware of a metal screw that serves as the magnet that makes the trackpad “click.” If you tighten the screw too tightly, you’ll have a trackpad that won’t click.

The finished result is below. You’ll notice that the replacement trackpad was from a white unibody model, so the trackpad is a little mismatched :)