The first computer I consciously laid hands on was an Apple II.
It must have been sometime between 1983 and 1985 while visiting family in Dortmund, Germany. The exciting beige box, crowned by an amber monochrome monitor, belonged to Uncle Celal, a cousin of Dad and computer science student at the time.
I vividly remember playing Choplifter on the huge, at least to my childish eyes, machine for years to come - and I remember the Apple logo on the box. The prominently featured, colorful symbol of joy.
Even though given this early and intensive experience, I did not turn into an uncritical fanboy. For most of the early nineties I was much more interested in the Amiga - for the games - and IBM-compatibles for their flexibility, my teenage love for Turbo Pascal and even more games. I enjoyed to hack then popular fire demos with inline assembler, devise systems for my friends and then assemble them.
But the Apple logo stuck with me ... unfortunately it did not with Apple Inc.
Apple came up with Mac OS X, I started to use their machines as of 2001, but gone was my chance to ever own a piece of equipment bearing the Rainbow Apple.
Until recently that is. Browsing the web for a classic Apple logo sticker that I could use on my Macbook Pro, I came across iColours.ca, a Canada-based retailer selling plastic inlays to be used with the backlit Apple logo behind notebook screens. I was instantly sold.
Below I have documented the process of opening a Macbook Pro and replacing the standard white fill with a custom inlay.
- In order to remove the back panel of the notebook display, you have to unscrew two tiny screws to the far right and left on the bottom of the screen frame.
- Once you are done, use a sturdy but thin credit card to carefully pry open the screen casing. I suggest you start inserting the card/your-other-tool-of-choice towards the very bottom of the screen. Work on the inner side of the thin plastic rim that circumvents front and back part of the notebook screen casing.
- Work your way towards the top on both sides of the screen. Three latches on either side of the screen hold the front and back parts together. Be careful not to break any of them.
- After loosening the sides, the back panel will slide off towards the top of the screen.
- Remove the white fill cover above the logo window.
- Use some heat-resistant adhesive to secure the custom inlay in place.
The rest is straightforward reversal of the opening steps to close and finish your custom logo MBP mod.
