one day i was just using my Mac and all of a sudden the screen went black, at first i was confused but then i realized i could still see something, the display does work, but the light is completely absent, to see it i either have to connect it to a monitor or point a torch to the screen, any way to fix this?
MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)
The internal backlight cable in the display has failed requiring the replacement of the whole Display Assembly which is expensive. If you are considering a repair, make sure to also factor in a Battery replacement as well ($250 US) if the battery has never been replaced since the laptop is getting to the age where the battery most likely has lost significant capacity, plus battery hardware failures tend to become more likely as well.
If you have the non-Touchbar model, then I would not put any money into it at all since the SSD on the non-touchbar model has a very high rate of failure and the USB-C ports are integrated onto the Logic Board so they cannot be replaced if the ports become loose which is common due to a design flaw.
Also keep in mind that the 2017 model is now considered "Vintage" so hardware support is limited. It also means macOS 13.x Ventura is the last supported version of macOS for this laptop. Ventura will stop receiving security updates at the end of 2025. This is critical because some third party app developers will also stop updating their apps for Ventura compatibility at the same time. This is really only a concern for apps which access online services since those apps will no longer work correctly once the online service has changed enough to make the older app incompatible....it may take several years for that to happen, but could happen sooner too. This includes web browsers.
The internal backlight cable in the display has failed requiring the replacement of the whole Display Assembly which is expensive. If you are considering a repair, make sure to also factor in a Battery replacement as well ($250 US) if the battery has never been replaced since the laptop is getting to the age where the battery most likely has lost significant capacity, plus battery hardware failures tend to become more likely as well.
If you have the non-Touchbar model, then I would not put any money into it at all since the SSD on the non-touchbar model has a very high rate of failure and the USB-C ports are integrated onto the Logic Board so they cannot be replaced if the ports become loose which is common due to a design flaw.
Also keep in mind that the 2017 model is now considered "Vintage" so hardware support is limited. It also means macOS 13.x Ventura is the last supported version of macOS for this laptop. Ventura will stop receiving security updates at the end of 2025. This is critical because some third party app developers will also stop updating their apps for Ventura compatibility at the same time. This is really only a concern for apps which access online services since those apps will no longer work correctly once the online service has changed enough to make the older app incompatible....it may take several years for that to happen, but could happen sooner too. This includes web browsers.
You can still use it as a desktop computer if you connect it to an external display.
I did forget to mention to make sure the screen brightness is at maximum.
You can also try an SMC Reset and a PRAM Reset (hold the PRAM Reset for at least two chimes if possible).
Thanks, i guess i'll just throw it away and buy another one...
MacBook Pro 2017 brightness absent
