For those that have never experienced it, you should try Lenovo Thinkpads some day. On the underside every screw has a little pictogram so you can easily tell which ones are needed to remove the keyboard versus the hard drive for example.<p>You can enter a system's serial number at <a href="http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/partsLookup.page" rel="nofollow">http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/partsLooku...</a> and it will tell you exactly which parts went into it. For example some systems may have exactly the same model number, but some are made with LG panels and some with Samsung. This will tell you exactly.<p>Then they have hardware maintenance manuals at <a href="http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-manuals/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-39298" rel="nofollow">http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-manuals/detail.pa...</a> which show you exactly how to take the laptop apart and change/repair parts.<p>IMHO they have done an excellent job. They even design the keyboard and system so that fluid on the keyboard drains out the bottom. (Note it isn't waterproof, just a good effort to ensure a minor spill doesn't destroy the machine.) One example video is at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7cvi00OZDM</a><p>And the proof is in the pudding - a friend who managed to break one of her hinges was able to lookup the exact part, order it, take the machine apart and replace the hinge and put it all back together without any difficulties or guesswork.
Fixing laptops is all good and yes, i too think you should take broken things apart and at least try to repair them and i do it regularly..<p>Opening the very 17" MacBook Pro i'm writing this comment from has been a satisfying experience when i've replaced my harddisk - it's really beautiful and well-designed from the inside.<p>However, that whole fix-something-yourself-when-it's-broken may very well become a thing of the past - especially with MacBooks which always prided themselves of being upgradeable and even mentioning the needed steps in the manuals.<p>You just won't have that opportunity with the new Retina one as most of its internals are directly soldered to the logicboard :(<p>I sincerely hope that this trend won't continue with newer models.
"One wonderful thing about do-it-yourself, as a movement, is that it is a powerful way of creating more skilled technicians..."<p>The DIY "movement" actually existed since at least the beginning of the "radio movement" back in the late 1800s. Not until about the mid-1980s did it start to wane (as disposable lighters and more complex car engines and electronics packages with oddball fasteners came into fashion, and Japanese electronics displaced US-made). Check back into the early years of PC computing (before IBM introduced the PC and emphasis shifted to business) and you'll find a vital and extensive DIY "computer movement" existed. (Read Kilobyte and Byte magazines.)<p>This may be one benefit of the financial raping of USA ... the (partial, at-least) rebirth of the realization that it's not rocket science, and the satisfactions of DIY electronics far outweigh the conveniences of box stores.
I've repaired quite a few laptops. I was lucky to have inherited a stack of older Dell Latitudes from work when our kids were younger, so I got rather good at swapping parts to keep the best ones running. Besides swapping keyboards and screens, I've even soldered replacement power connectors on two laptop motherboards and re-worked a Nintendo DS with a broken case and upper screen cable. After most of those jobs I've said, "never again" as they've rarely made financial sense after I figure the parts and time spent. But it is a neat feeling of accomplishment.
I'm sure you do your own plumbing when your pipes have problems and fix your car when it breaks down. You probably even blow your own glass to repair a broken window, right?<p>Specialization is good, it helps society move forward, don't fight it.