Apparently taping laptop screens to the lid is now a thing

[mikeymikec]

It's just held together by single-use tape.

The Lenovo V15 is similar (IIRC plastic clips holding the front bezel on followed by tape up the back of the screen, and probably its successor the G2 is like this too as it looks similar from the outside), I had to replace a screen on one I sold. It was not fun.

I've replaced a multitude of laptop screens. The old way of doing it (screws into a metal frame around the screen) was a tiny bit fiddly in comparison to this. It seems to me like (some?) laptop manufacturers want to shout, "look mummy, I'm peddling backwards!", in exchange for shaving maybe 3mm in total off the overall width of the laptop.

Sigh.

I'm looking into getting the whole display panel assembly as one item rather than faffing around with tape which also must surely include these pull-strips in order to remove it again.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow. Above my pay grade.

 

[Linflas]

You should see the POS HP ProBook X360's they sell to schools. HP wants to sell you the entire display assembly for $400.00 when students break the touch screen, hinges, or LCD which they do endlessly. The laptops cost around $550.00 new which makes the decision fairly easy to pass on their solution. The touch screen is held on by sticky tape and fairly easy to remove, hinges sets can be found for $39.00, LCD panels $30 - $40. Unfortunately the touch screens and digitizers available are sub par compared to the OEM ones which seems strange since the suppliers are all Chinese where the devices are made.

 

[Oyeve]

I think it makes sense as these screens are so thin now that if it was screwed into place the screen would probably crack. The tape, IMO, is not just a cheap solution but flexible and probably avoids broken screens.

 

[mikeymikec]

I think it makes sense as these screens are so thin now that if it was screwed into place the screen would probably crack. The tape, IMO, is not just a cheap solution but flexible and probably avoids broken screens.

Considering the official documentation and guides on YouTube warn to be careful not to snap the tape when pulling it out, it doesn't seem like a particularly practical solution to me. What if the tape snaps? No advice given. The fact that you also now have to take the underside of the laptop off, disconnect the screen from the hinges and handle the tape correctly presents more points of failure than before, so 'mistake avoidance' hardly seems like a net positive with this change.

I've got a 2016-era Lenovo laptop here that I'm pretty sure uses the older method of securing the screen, and the lid looks like it's 3mm thick: Not exactly a chonker. I wouldn't call saving 1-2mm of depth in exchange for a re-usable and stable method of installation to be a good trade. Maybe some people would, the kind of people who want an ultra-portable device, but the laptops I'm mentioning are not in that category, they're pretty bog-standard 15.6" 1080p screen laptops with say a Ryzen 3-5 / Core i3-i5 processor in.