Just wanted to give the Frame Work team a shout out and thank you for making a great product for kids.
TLDR: Kid Drops Laptop, Display Pops out of Upper Assembly, 10 min later… Laptop Repaired and looking good a new.
So, last night my daughter (12yo) dropped her Bubblegum Framework 12. She came to me in tears because now the upper left of the display is obviously no longer seated properly. I was just thankful that the screen didn’t shatter. Since she assembled the laptop and installed KUBUNTU on it herself, I thought I would allow her to learn and see if the laptop could be repaired.
I asked her to go get her screwdriver and bring the laptop to the dining room so we could do some surgery. I pulled up the ifixit display repair guide and walked her through pulling the display to see what’s keeping it from seating back in. As she removed the final screw and then has to slide the display down I have an idea as to what’s going on. The screen is held in place at the top, not with screws but, with plastic clips. I asked her if she can see what’s up and wrong so she takes a closer look.
“Dad, it looks like the plastic is bent.” Of course with my old eyes, I need help. I ask her to get my readers so I can make sure. Sure enough, the plastic clip has been “flattened”. I ask if she tried to push the display back into place and she said yes. I show her the issue and ask what needs to happen? She says we need to put it back where it will clip. She’s right, of course, but I cringe at thinking the plastic is going to snap or be completely weak and useless once we try to move it back.
She asks me to try to move it back into place because she doesn’t want to break the screen. I try with the Spunger but the spunger is a softer plastic and can’t move the damaged clips. We have to move the one on the screen and the one on the upper assembly. I am able to gently pry them both into place with my pocket knife and then I let her re-assemble. The left side is still a little snug but she is able to get it re-assembled. Good as new and ready for more use.
As an exercise, I went ahead and checked the pricing if I had to actually replace components and let her know what her savings account would be shelling out to repair this.
Framework 12 Display Kit $149
Framework 12 Top Cover Kit $49
And a lot of time.
Thank you Frame Work for all you’re doing.