Thanks to Jenn, I had an opportunity to try my hand at replacing a laptop screen. She came to me just over a week ago and let me know that her laptop, on the way from her table, to her bed, came in contact with the floor, aggressively. Not her exact words but close.
I've always heard that replacing the screen is as costly as buying a new laptop. Though the screen was expensive, it was not nearly as expensive as I imagined and it was a relatively easy project.
I found a brand new laptop screen on eBay for about $100. It would have been nice to find a how-to video on YouTube specific to the Compaq CQ50-215NR which is the model we own but I didn't. I did find one for a Dell. Not exactly the same (the Dell looked easier) but close enough.
How-To Video here.
Watching the video gave me the courage to dive in. On a Compaq, you need to remove the hinges. To do this, remove the battery. There are a couple of screws that hold the keyboard in. You remove these screws and pop the keyboard off. This gives you access to the hinges. From here on, it's similar to the video. You remove two more screws and pop the bezel off. Replace the screen and put it all back together.
I held my breath as I pushed the power button and unlike most projects, the laptop screen came to life perfectly. Jenn's happy and I can now say that I know how to replace a laptop screen.
