This MacBook Air had a horizontal bar going across the screen. Usually I see this type of issue with a vertical bar, but the fix is the same; replacing the LCD panel returns the computer to a fully functional tool.

The Display above and below the bar was fully functional, but so much of the display could not be used that it was of little use to the client.

There are no physical signs of damage on the display. No cracks or dents or other signs of damage at all. Just a horizontal bar of tiny vertical lines across the MacBook Air display.

Replacing the LCD panel made the computer fully functional again! By just replacing the LCD panel instead of the whole display, the client saved $100’s.

Sometimes when a MacBook Air takes a hard hit from the back of the display (where the Apple logo is), it can crack the LCD and also damage the backlight sheet. Damage on the backlight sheet is a cosmetic issue that causes a white spot or blemish. Sometimes these blemishes are hardly noticeable even if you are looking for it, other times the damage is bad enough that you can clearly see the white spot during normal use.

In this case the computer took a bad enough hit to the back of the display at a small point. The dent caused the backlight sheet to rise up just a little, so it catches more of the backlight as it shines up from the bottom of the display. This issue will not get worse, and it does not cause any functionality issues.

As you can see in the picture below, the white of the backlight sheet is visible even before replacing the LCD panel.

Some people are fine with the white blemish and decide to continue with the LCD only repair rather than spending more on an entire display replacement. Other times the customer decides to switch from the LCD only repair to replacing the entire display. In this case the customer decided to continue with just the LCD replacement and live with the blemish.

The first picture below shows how the computer looks with a solid color on the display (making the blemish more visible), while the second picture shows how the blemish looks with a picture in the background. As you can see it is much less noticeable with a picture on the display.

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Normally if I notice a blemish during the LCD replacement process, I will pause the work and send a picture of the blemish to the customer and ask if they want to continue with the LCD only replacement or switch to an entire display replacement. In my experience about 80% of people decide to continue with the LCD replacement while 20% of people decide to go with a full display replacement.

Another common issue on the 2010-2017 MacBook Air’s is the ribbon cable going bad. This failure can cause these horizontal bars on the screen as the picture shows.

Because the ribbon cable is part of the LCD panel, by replacing just the LCD we can fix this issue! Below is the same computer with a new LCD panel installed.

Yet another 13″ MacBook Air with the common issue caused by hairline cracking along the left side of the screen. I have a blog post describing this MacBook Air 13″ LCD issue in more detail.

Normally the screen is white at the bottom with some distortion towards the top. Sometimes the horizontal point where the white starts is higher or lower, depending on where the cracking is along the left side of the screen under the silver bezel.

This second photo shows the LCD panel and the area that had a crack marked out. You can see how the cracking is just along the very edge of the display, rather then some kind of impact point or similar.

The only thing this computer needed to function properly was a MacBook Air 13″ LCD panel. By just replacing the panel and not the entire display assembly I was able to save the customer $100’s of dollars.

This is a great example of a MacBook Air screen that has been badly cracked. The damage was all on the LCD panel, so the only service necessary was to replace the LCD panel. By replacing only the damaged part I am able to save my customers hundreds of dollars off the display replacement Apple offers.