The Saga

Posted by Jäger on 2005-03-28 20:13:52

World-readable

Ever since Kiesa first got Elssbett three (three and a half?) years ago, her LCD backlight had a screwy connection. By poking at it and pulling the LCD around, it would normally work better. Last summer I got bored and pulled the plastic frame off to see what I could do. (I wasn't expecting to get anywhere.) To my surprise, my poking made the backlight work much better. Only within the past month has it returned to its old tricks. Today the backlight cut out on me and I tried to get it to behave again, only this time I applied a bit too much force and heard a faint but sickening crack. With the power off, I could see a faint network of cracks; with the power on, you saw the pattern.

Now I'm trying to figure out what my options are. On eBay I can find replacement LCDs starting at US$60 (although most are in the neighborhood of US$130). That's less than I can get a better notebook for, but I'm not sure that's the best idea; I've been thinking about replacing Elssbett's battery (although there's no guarentee that a better notebook on eBay, especially in my price range, would have a worthwhile battery life) and upgrading her ram. (Zan Lynx will recall my complaining about my available core at a recent Hacking Society.) At around US$250 my notebook-purchasing options on eBay start to get a bit better. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a new iBook, but I'm pretty sure I don't have that much money to spend.