Can I repair the CHEAPEST Apple Silicon Mac?

Thanks to Eufy Clean for sponsoring! Use Code eufyX8ProX for $130 off get your X8 Pro!

Today we're going to go down the rabbit hole of repairing Apple's latest devices with M1 and M2 chips. I found this dirt cheap broken M1 MacBook Air on Mercari and took a huge gamble buying it, but if things go well this might just be the cheapest Apple Silicon MacBook on the internet...

time stamps
0:00 Unboxing
1:20 Why I got lucky
4:18 This M1 Air has some surprises
5:01 Screen repair and restoration
7:38 Cost of repair
8:31 Why it's hard to find cheap M1 Macs
10:34 3rd party repair caveats
11:20 Effects of Apple Self Service Repair

#righttorepair #diy #applesilicon #eufyX8pro #eufytanglefree #eufyfurfree

Gear:
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[AlMarche]

Maybe not as cheap as yours, but I also managed to find a good deal on a broken MacBook Air M1 here in Mexico. Bought the laptop with a faulty keyboard and trackpad for around $270 USD. Replacing the top case costed me around $110 USD. A bit more than yours in total, but prices are way higher here than in the US, and getting a fully functioning M1 MacBook Air for $380 is fantastic no matter where you are. Fixing broken devices rocks.

[Rugenus]

What’s crazy is you could of used it with an external monitor and basically had an m1 Mac mini for $150

[Evie]

the only problem is that the replacement display you got seems pretty substandard. As soon as you booted the machine up, the display looked really green and weird. Maybe you could calibrate it to make it look better, but it certainly isn't the best example of an aftermarket display, could've done better with that one! Still a banger deal tho :D

+ I’ve seen a lot of comments about the lack of True Tone causing this issue. That’s certainly not it. I’ve replaced many Apple displays with OEM panels (official Apple panels with only the broken front glass replaced), and the display looks virtually identical as the original, only with a tiny bit of blue tint caused by the lack of True Tone. But the difference shouldn’t jump off the screen, since the white balance should look similar to older Macs without True Tone. And the lack of True Tone shouldn’t make a display super green either, True Tone usually turns the display either warm or bluish depending on the lighting around you.

[Gearsandco]

I know why this Mac has a cracked screen, it looks like the previews owner tried to cover the camera with a piece of tape or something, as you can see the damage started around the camera.

[bryans]

That's a great find. Your MacBook repair videos have always been my favorites, I've used them as tutorials for upgrading old laptops.

[darijoe]

Became a subscriber of yours Luke in 2019, purely because of your awesome Mac repair videos. My body starts to tingle whenever I see a new one of these appear. Great result and wonderful work!

[stevey]

Nice job! I found the same model macbook air 2 years ago at a local rural pawn shop for $350. The unit did not boot up but it did power on to the "new" recovery menu that had me realizing this was of the m1 series. The tag just said "macbook." They promised money back if it is icloud locked. I offered $280 and they took it. It had 20 battery cycles or so. I've still got truetone.

This computer replaced my i7 2018 macbook pro 13" before it. This m1 base model has been the best laptop I've ever had and I've had a lot of laptops of various makes and models. I love this computer.

[andi]

Good that you mentioned the apple repair programme and the screen pairing. They really should give us access to the calibration tool or whatever it is to enable true tone for the screen.

[richarddelloyd]

Nice spot dude... been scanning your channel for a while, I refurbished every single Mac desktop and laptop that existed from 1998 to 2015 when the ****s locked everything down. Selling on ebay since 2005 to 2013, then Amazon till 2018 when they (Apple) restricted second hand resellers... love your channel dude, the pushing of the limits in mods and right to repair.. keep on keeping on my man! Much love

[wemelkuan]

This was pretty much what happened with my M1 11-inch iPad Pro where only the display was cracked and wasn't iCloud locked. I won it at an Ebay auction for the same price as a 9th gen iPad today. +$70 for a glass replacement.

[kenw]

Great deal! Those first M1 MacBooks (Air or Pro) from late 2020 remain more than capable enough for most users. Apple still sells that one (as new) for $999 retail in base config. I have Pro with higher storage/memory specs, can’t imagine needing more for my daily use.

[Spice_Monk]

Luke, make more Mac repairs videos! We love them!

[willm]

it's criminal that they software lock displays. Otherwise, great find!

[SamThe_st]

Make sure you turn the hinge with your hand 🖐️ if you use spudgers you might risk damaging the screen 😊

[alemoraesoliveira]

Nice repair!! I Love it!! Always sharing you channel to friends!!

[TimR]

Am I the only one who thinks the replacement screen has a green/blue cast? I saw that True Tone is inactive. But can this panel be color calibrated without it? If the color shift is as bad as it looks in the video, it can't be used for any visual creator tasks.

[maybelbdidit]

You can reprogram true tone, the hall effect sensor for lid-closing sleep mode and everything else you lose as long as you keep the broken screen to transfer across the serial numbers.

[ronferry]

I bought a MacBook Air M1 Base for $250 a year ago with a cracked screen that I thought about replacing. The problem is the keyboard was damaged as well and a European version. From my understanding the Touch ID won't work if you replace it. Also to replace all those parts is way too much. So for now it's a Mac mini that my kid uses connected to a monitor. Doesn't need to take it on the go so not sure it would even be worth fixing.

[CCCE]

Luke, I always get excited when you do a video like this one. I think that, yeah, I could do the same thing. Then, I think that there must be some times when you did not get an awesome deal like the Apple Silicon Mac, so the good deals and bad deals would kind of average out. I realize that you are an expert, so you would avoid more of the bad deals than I would. After reasoning it through, I decide to just enjoy your videos and pay up on Apple products to avoid the bad deals. Thanks for your videos, Luke.

[alan.otoole]

Woo! These are some of my favorite videos!