MacBook – Apple Repair Service Image of cracked bezel -or- what am I looking at

Apple resellers are allowed to both perform repairs where the broken part goes back to Apple and just sell you a part. I believe their costs are way higher for the costs of an "one way part" so in practice, this does not happen much on major components that are not commodity parts.

In your particular instance, I would look to see when that specific model goes vintage. Presumably, Apple would then sell their stock of parts to the repair centers and for a limited time, there might be a nice supply (prices low) and no risk to the people carrying the part that their costs to carry inventory will raise the price of that part.

Even from reputable sellers, many parts that exist on the open market are scavenged from machines that are damaged (sometimes by liquid) and disassembled for parts and carry only a short warranty if any from the seller.

This is a good thing in almost all cases - reusing perfectly fine parts when they are properly tested is inexpensive and proper. The flip side, is what machines get damaged and don't get fixed? The worst kind of damage.

An iMac is very much not at risk from liquid but other things like power surge, can affect parts in an invisible way. Again, the question is of self-selecting. Which macs don't get cheap parts to fix the issues they have? The ones with major problems to either the display or the logic board.

For these reasons, I prefer to buy parts from a company I trust to know why a used mac isn't getting fixed so I can get good parts from them. Similarly, I'll gladly buy the damaged mac from the person that wants to sell it for parts so I can evaluate the damage myself. They are usually forthcoming why and how it got damaged ( and also pricing my offer knowing it may be a total waste.)

As always, finding a good mechanic - someone who knows the business and has experience with hundreds of repairs on your specific model and thousands of repairs under the belt is more important to knowing when parts can be used.

The sad fact is specialized and highly reliable parts outside of Apple's supply chain are too expensive to be widely available. It's hard for consumers to know if a good price is a lucky break or the seller has more information of the part's heritage and passing on hidden risk to the buyer.

Yes, glass chip kits can be used to fix a cracked screen, but only in the following conditions:

• The crack does not cover any of the touch surface (only the bezel area is cracked). Anywhere resin is left on the surface of the device or seeps under the glass can block the electrical signal from your finger and prevent the device from reading a touch in that area.
• The "suction cup" (really, a gasket) included with the kit will likely only be partially attached to the device during the repair. It must completely cover the crack, but may only extend off one edge of the device (it will not work well on a corner) and the hole in the center of the gasket must not cover the touch surface.

These conditions mean a repair is not likely to work with an iPhone or iPod Touch, but may work with the larger bezel on an iPad, especially as most cracks begin near the edge of a screen.

There is one modification to the instructions included with the kits. At the point where you press the gasket sticker to the glass to make a seal, you should also fold it down so that it seals the edge of the glass as well. This is because the metal backing on the iOS device does not completely cover the sides of the glass. You need to seal the resin within the glass and prevent it from escaping. This is why a corner repair is unlikely to work well: it is difficult or impossible to get a good seal over a corner.

The last step of the process requires you to leave the device in direct sunlight, preferably outdoors, to allow UV light to cure the resin. Make sure not to do this on a hot day, or the heat can damage your device. I did my own repair on the day in the low sixties and still had a temperature warning by the time the resin had cured.

Even following these tips, you may end up with an imperfect repair. However, this should be enough to prevent or at least significantly delay the crack from spreading, and thus likely save a much more costly or extensive repair. In my case, the crack is still visible, but only if I remove the protective cover (which I never do.)

It's also important to note that this will void your warranty, but as the warranty doesn't cover accidental damage anyway it's a case of pick your poison.