Trackpad Replacement on the Unibody MacBook Pro

February 21st, 2011

In this brief guide we will walk through a very common request in the repair department at Powerbook Medic-how to replace the trackpad on the unibody MacBook Pro. This guide is applicable to the 13, 15, and 17 inch models, however, with the 15, and 17 inch models, you will have three battery screws to [...]

Tags: iPad 2, logic, mac, Macbook, Macbook Pro, repair
Posted in Mac Repair Guide Releases | 12 Comments »

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 11:10 am and is filed under Mac Repair Guide Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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12 Responses to “Trackpad Replacement on the Unibody MacBook Pro”

1. 12
   Kyle Says:
   October 20th, 2012 at 1:13 pm

   Is there a A1286 Macbook Pro 15″ (late 2011) trackpad available anywhere?

   Kyle

2. 11
   Chad Says:
   May 5th, 2012 at 11:21 pm

   I have an early 2011 15″ MBP, which isn’t listed on the order page.. do you have the trackpad I need?

3. 10
   Ed Says:
   March 25th, 2012 at 2:31 pm

   Chris – you can get at the screws under the connector on the left, it just takes some fiddling. no need to remove the logic board, although putting the screws back in proved trickier than removing them. You will need a magnetic screwdriver to avoid losing the screws under the board.

   My only problem is upon rebooting, my 15 Late 2008 won’t recognize the trackpad, and now, even the keyboard. Some USB shenanigans to resolve…..

4. 9
   Cut the Rope Says:
   November 16th, 2011 at 4:16 am

   Cut the Rope…

   [...]Trackpad Replacement on the Unibody MacBook Pro[...]…

5. 8
   Christopher Huber Says:
   October 24th, 2011 at 7:29 pm

   Many thanks for the fantastic blog.

6. 7
   Isreal Mofford Says:
   October 1st, 2011 at 2:23 am

   Really awsome Site i Like this site very much. I seen it on Googlei will comeback to visit,keep up the awsome work!

7. 6
   James Says:
   August 10th, 2011 at 10:09 pm

   I just spent $110 at the Apple Store in Toronto to have this done on my 13′ MacBook Pro. I could have saved myself about $50 plus gas (30 min drive each way – total 120 min driving) if I had just bought the part online! I even had it dissassembeled just like it shows in the video but I ended giving up on it when I wiped it off and it still wouldn’t work. Ah well, extra $50 and it’s fixed. But now I know how easy it is. Great post.

8. 5
   Jason Says:
   August 3rd, 2011 at 6:13 pm

   Great video on how to remove the track pad, thank you. Might come in handy for myself, here’s why. My girlfriend says that she spilled a couple drops of juice on the track pad, which has resulted in the right click (bottom right corner) to not work all the time, the tactile feeling of the button when it was ok doesn’t feel the same, has a sticky gummy feeling to it now.

   Is there any way to take it out and clean it so it will work as it should? Or do I have to get it replaced do you think?

   Best regards,

   Jason

9. 4
   Simon Melan Says:
   June 22nd, 2011 at 1:45 am

   I would suggest a black trackpad cover, if there is only minor scratch. Need not to replace the whole thing or void any warranty.

10. 3
    Torben Says:
    May 18th, 2011 at 5:26 am

    I replaced my cracked trackpad with a used trackpad. Worked great, so thanks for the video! But now mac os is not responding for the hardware click. Do you know what to do?

11. 2
    Bradley Says:
    March 30th, 2011 at 10:26 am

    If the unit has a removeable battery bay, then you should be able to see the screws. If you can’t, you may have the original model style which does not have a user replaceable trackpad. You’ll have to replace the entire top case on that model.

12. 1
    Chris Dissinger Says:
    March 26th, 2011 at 7:32 pm

    I read this article and see that it is applicable to 15″ unibody models like the one I have (A1286). However, when I started to disassemble my MacBook Pro, I noticed that the screws holding the trackpad are not visible as is the case in the video of the 13″ unibody model. My question is, Do I have to remove the entire logic board to access these screws in order to replace the trackpad on the 15″ unibody model?

    Thanks for any input,
    Chris