Cracked screen MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

I have AppleCare but this is the third time my screen cracked and they are asking for $690 to fix it :( They only cover two times.

It happens at the bottom black part of the screen. The super thin material cracks when any tiny grain of dirt is in the groove when you close the computer!! Apple needs to come up with a stronger material for the MacBook screen.

Both of my screen holes are at the very bottom behind the bezel. It is very fragile so since this bezel is not available as a part to purchase, I used electrical tape. It cushions it against further damage. It is definitely a design defect.

I have the same kind of damage and was told the same thing. Tiny grains of dirt or even dust can crack the screen, even a piece of paper being there when you close it part way can do it. Seems like a huge flaw in the design for something that is supposed to be portable. The tech who fixed mine claims it's pretty common. I know two other people with the same issue.

Alright I found this forum because the other day I closed my MacBook Air and for no reason the screen cracked like a potato chip in the exact same place that everyone is describing here. I always felt like this laptop was 1000 times flimsier than my MacBook Air from several years prior. Now I have the proof. Something is up here. These things might as well be made of paper

You have my sympathies. I will never forget the night I closed mine and heard that sound. It was like a tiny crunch and while looking in the area where the sound came from all I found was a few shards of glass that was so fragile I could scarcely believe anything could be constructed of it. I kept the shards on a piece of white piece of paper on my nightstand. It was so tiny! Then a few days later the same sound came from the other hinge. Impossibly fragile glass. SMH

No, Apple's position remains the same; any damage to the screen is user error. I did not get Apple Care mainly bc at the time I lived in an area without an Apple store. Sending it in was an option but at the time even that was problematic in a small town and the replacement of the screen was going to be insured shipping plus at least $690.00 to replace the screen. I protect the two holes I had, one behind each hinge, and reinforced the bezel with electrical tape. So far other than looking ugly my 2019 still functions. My 2012 MacBook Pro still looks like new AND has a DVD port and movie making. I was so happy when it was new because it literally never looks used. Trade in value was a laughable $90.00 at the time. The new one from 2019 has zero trade in value as Apple won't even accept them. That says it all to me. It is a defective product.

Yep, that's what it costs. Unaffiliated repair shops told me they would have to pay $1,000 just to buy the part to do the repair so I went back to Apple. It came to $875. Apparently a screen sensor was also broken so that jacked the price up even more. Funny part was that when they gave it back to me the Genius tried to wrap it in that foam warp stuff and she put a thick rubber band around it to hold it in place. That's literally what they said caused my screen to break (putting pressure on the cover while it was closed)...which was apparently user error when I do it (which I didn't btw) but it's standard practice when they do it. So I asked her to open it up and show me that there were no new cracks. We didn't see any. But... when this first happened and I questioned what could have caused it since I hadn't opened it in days and it was on my desk untouched the whole time.. they told me that the cracks sometimes are too small to be visible at first but that they can expand from unseeable to large enough to see over time. So...I could have cracks caused by the clerk's handling of my computer but since they won't be visible for a few days I don't know. I guess if they do appear those will be labeled as user error as well. Now it's basically a paper weight since I'm afraid to even touch it. I had the idea to trade it in and get an older model but they won't even take it as a trade in. They offered me nothing for it. I thought that was odd since I've traded in older, less in demand models before for good money. I can only conclude they don't think much of their own product.

I have AppleCare but they only cover two accidents with a deductible. The same place has cracked for the third time in less than 2 years. Now I have to pay the full repair cost.

This is a major design flaw!! and Apple does not admit it.

Don’t bother fixing it! Maybe try to plug in an external monitor and use it as a workstation - or maybe you can use an iPad or even one of the larger iPhones as the external display. - it’s definitely not worth the investment to pay out of pocket for then repair! I have a 2013 MBA that is still working fine, so I bought a dell inspiron 15 5505 ryzen 7 4700u for less than the cost of the screen repair and upgraded the memory to 32 gb plus added a 1Tb NVME drive to the 256gb drive - and it was still in the ballpark of the cost of the MBP screen repair - while the display isn’t as crisp/bright as the MacBooks and since this model is sort of the upper entry level model, it’s not quite as sleek or quite as light, but it’s good enough for my needs, plus it’s speedier and it doesn’t hang up like my MB Pro did, and hence exceeds any of my processing or storage needs. Plus, the fan doesn’t run nearly as much on the Dell in comparison to the MB Pro or MBA, which was rather frequent plus the Apples heated up a lot too.

So overall, I have zero regrets about not having the screen repaired and I am very happy about not throwing away any more money on such a poorly designed, over priced, and underperforming Apple product! This one is expandable to 2TB and unofficially up to 64 gb Ram. So if I need a better display to one day do more graphic oriented work, I think it should be able to handle it. But only time will tell I guess. But no denying its definitely more bang for the buck for my needs with possibility to upgrade it even further if necessary!

Maybe when this pandemic ends, I’ll take the broken MBP someplace to see if it will boot up to an external display and if it can be salvaged as an additional workstation. But as of yet, I haven’t been successful in getting it working with an older model display or TV via hdmi, but hoping I just need the certified usb c/hdmi apple adapter instead of this cheaper third party one that I had on hand.

PS- I also sort of regret buying this refurbished iPad Pro from Apple as well! This touch screen is the absolute pits. It hangs up constantly plus typing on it is awful as well!

It's a design flaw the computer screen for some reason is glass all the way down to the crack of the base of the computer that meets the keyboard. Dirt and crap get easily stuck in the crevices and there is barely any space to clean or push out the dirt since they made this crevice so tight. I had closed my computer on something that must have been in there and there's already a small chip at the bottom of my screen. If I had apple care it would cost me $99 to replace the screen if I Don't have apple care $600+. They don't care about the customers or that they screwed up on how they made these. In older versions, the screens were raised up more had space for stuff to get through and the bottom was plastic between the screen and keyboard so this was never an issue. I cannot believe I didn't see this when I first bought it. I assumed the bottom strip was some type of plastic but I was very wrong. Now I have to pay $100 or more for some type of air compressor cleaner to clean between the cracks so I don't damage the screen more. The warranty doesn't cover this type of damage and I had a couple of weeks left to see and they said they don't cover it. I've had this computer for only 11 months. I spoke to people over the phone they don't seem very interested in fixing this issue. Too bad so sad it's your fault and "pay for it" attitude and it's not our problem and it's still gonna cost you out of pocket even with apple care. I won't be buying apple anymore.

[Edited by Moderator]

Not that it's much comfort, but I buy compressed canned air. It cleans the keyboard and that crack well. I also keep a makeup brush which is very soft and angled to brush the bottom of the screen. I keep it very clean, but my crack(s) occurred when it was brand new. There was nothing there. Both holes are directly in front of the two springs. I clean carefully because the electrical tape I used to cover the holes tends to attract bits of flotsam due to the adhesive edge.

Yes, what happened was the hinges were not placed sufficiently far enough from the glass not to tap on it when the MBP was opened and closed. With mine all I did was close it and I heard a tiny scrunch. There was nothing there but a hole and some impossibly fragile glass shards. A few days later the same thing opposite hinge. It wasn't user error and now you HAVE heard of a spontaneous crack, or in my case two holes, one in front of each hinge.

That sounds terrible i cant believe how many people invested in these computers and this is happening. They don't care. All i want is an even exchange for an older model instead of having future cracks and loss of the whole computer. I assumed its dirt i didnt find anything large enough to make the hole and never heard the crunch. But if the hinges are the case its defective and I want my money back.

First of all it's the bezel that is broken with mine. And yes, the electrical tape seals the two holes. You just have to be very careful in applying it. If you don't cover the holes properly I believe the entire screen would break or the holes would lead to more cracks in the screen. As I have said repeatedly the electrical tape was my only option to cover the holes. The tape covers and insulates. This is what I am left with. I don't have the option of replacing the screen and even if I did there are reports that the new screen doesn't guarantee a permanent fix. This MBP is defective and Apple knows it.

That's so unfortunate, I wish they would own up to a defect. In all honesty, they "took care of me" on this issue but it's only because I sent mine in for a different recall and it was returned broken with a bricked display. That was a two week long saga of working myself up the chain of command and providing proof of functionality the day before I sent my machine in for repair.

I'm thinking I may just sell mine before it breaks again and revert to the previous release (2015?). I use one for work and it's just as solid a machine without the fragility.

If you screen still works, I would look into options which would maintain that as a cracked bezel. The fix is 800.00 once the display is boned.