The estimated cost to replace the trackpad on a late 2009 Macbook (Unibody)?

[Robert M]

The estimated cost to replace the trackpad on a late 2009 Macbook (Unibody)?

Hi everyone,

The trackpad on one of my office’s Macbooks has gone kablooey. It isn’t clicking properly and click holding is near impossible. Definitely not a software issue. I lack the time and inclination to repair or replace the trackpad myself. It’s just too much of a pain these days. The machine is worth repairing since the it is used only for email, word processing and basic web browsing. Since Macbook will be in the shop, I may also throw an extra couple of gigs of RAM into the machine since it’s a stock model with the base hard disk drive and RAM. It depends on how much it’ll cost for the RAM. The user still has over 90 gigs of space on the machine and it is neither cost effective nor worthwhile to buy and install an SSD into it. RAM, though, yes.

Any idea how much it might cost to replace the trackpad in one of these models? I haven’t contacted the local Micro Center yet but plan to do so later in the day.

Thanks,

Robert

[OWC Jamie]

Have you made certain that the battery is not swelled up and pressing on the trackpad causing it to not worK? It's a fairly common occurrence.

And with labor it should run about $125.

[Ken Sp.]

Have you looked to see if it is possibly a battery that is swollen. Many times when the batteries have issues, they swell, putting pressure on the trackpad.
If this is the case, sometimes you can activate "touch to tap" and it will accomplish what you need.
I had a friend have there's replaced at an authorized Apple repair facility, and I think it was around $150.

[vicrock]

External mouse??

[Robert M]

Jamie and Ken,

A swollen battery... Never even occurred to me! But, if it's a common occurrence, the it's a definitely possible source. Either way, the cost is about what I guestimated be it a battery problem or a trackpad issue. The question is do I bring it to the local Apple store or to the local Micro Center? Our local Micro Center has a rock solid awesome Mac tech. I trust him to do a great job. And, they'll install the RAM upgrade cheap if I decided to go for it. Don't know about the Apple store.

Robert

[GGD]

I was quoted $90.10 + Tax at the genius bar of an Apple Store earlier this year.

But there is also an adjusting screw that controls the click response, and it might be that's all that's needed.

[C(-)ris]

I've got a dozen or so of the trackpads if you want to give it a shot your self. There are a few special screwdrivers you would need though.

It also could be that the set screw has backed out and the trackpad can't make contact to click. Common on that unibody model.

[mrlynn]

Is a swollen battery a sign of a potential fire hazard?

/Mr Lynn

[RAMd®d]

It might be a swollen batt…

Oh. Nevermind.

This was exactly the problem for my BMB. Only one side of the click-bar worked, and just barely. The other side felt a little mushy, with almost no travel, and no click whatsoever.

This went on for about a month. Then the battery started showing a slow but steady discharge no matter how long I left the AC adapter connected.

When I started to check the LED indicator on the battery, I saw that it was obviously swollen and had to go. I pulled it out but wanted to use the 'Book. The trackpad worked perfectly.

[deckeda]

I adjusted the screw on my sister's white Unibody MacBook a year or so ago; time to do it again. Pretty easy to do, and far cheaper than paying and waiting for someone else to do it.