iPad - Is it worth repair?

G’day,

My 4th generation (retina 2012) iPad 32gb wifi today suffered a severely smashed screen. (My fault for not replacing the case a year ago; not my wife’s fault for dropping it on tiles.)

I see on eBay they sell for around $100-$200… And I’ve seen a price of $99 for (presumably non-stock) screen replacement…

It’s still operating but the glass is dangerously shattered. Luckily the screen protector has contained it for now…

Would it be worth repairing? Or just move on? Are the non Apple screens acceptable?

Cheers

cosmic

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On an iPad that old I’d generally have no hesitation recommending a 3rd party screen repair. :+1:

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I’ve got a similar quandary for an iPad Mini 2, the button is failing (works if you press it hard) and I’ve been quoted $100 for the replacement (apparently it’s a whole screen). Same as you, they go for not a lot more than that, although you’re then maybe buying someone else’s problem so I’m left wondering if it’s just worth paying out the $100 and having my own known working iPad back.

Depending on what you do with it, maybe it’s time to upgrade, the 4 doesn’t run iOS 11 so you would be upgrading an effectively unsupported machine. You could try putting it up for $50 on Gumtree and see if some person wants to buy it and attempt the repair themselves and put that towards a replacement. I’ve seen iPad Air’s going for sub $300 which would get you an A7 + iOS 11 support. an Air 2 isn’t much more and gets you a little further. Mind you the current gen iPad 5 32GB WiFi is $469 (from Apple) so keep that in mind as you look at second hand units.

Another idea (which I have used) was to sign up with a carrier. With Optus it’s $35 / month for 10GB with unlimited Netflix and music. Sure it adds up to $840, but it’s essentially an interest free loan with monthly payments and you get 10GB of data (which for me adds to a wider data pool and means I could go for a base BYO SIM plan for one of our devices which helped offset the cost). Also it might make the Wife happy :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve been down the 3rd party repair route 3 times now and every time they bugger the device up more (break something else that wasn’t broken before).

I don’t recommend 3rd party to anyone anymore.

I’ve had screen replacements on a Gen 1 iPad (the home button that came with the screen was sub par and failed after 3 months).

Wife had iPhone 4S screen replaced and they broke the headphone jack and mic. Screen also didn’t fit as flush as the genuine Apple screen.

Wife had a 5C screen replaced. They damaged the external speaker so FaceTime calls couldn’t be made without headphones or “banging” the phone a few times to restore the speaker. She had used this phone with broken screen for many months and the speaker was fine. It only happened when the screen was “fixed”

Interesting, @leon.

I think it’s just the glass broken, but after briefly speaking with a kiosk repair mob yesterday, I gather I need to make sure the Lcd is ok too, as otherwise the repair bill will be $200 (instead of $99), at which point I’d be looking at an eBay buy - could get cellular and or more storage for that much.

Personally I wouldn’t trust a 3rd party repairer. If you have problems or it plays up, you’ll just go through a world of pain trying to get them to refix it. I don’t know how much Apple would charge, but personally I’d just cut my losses and buy a new one. The current model ipads can be had very cheaply if you look around. Plus you’ll get cool new features like ARkit that your old ipad can’t do.

Looks like you can pick the glass up for under $60 with tools. However not too sure what yourself repair threshold would be. Take a look for yourself.

Mmm.

I don’t like glue.

I don’t mind unscrewing, pulling cables, easing boards, etc…

At this point, our plan (having consulted with the wife :wink: @The_Hawk) is to get a “new” iPad (likely couple generation old - will see what they are going for) and then look into fixing this one up, to be used by our youngest (2yo). I’ll review the above instructions in more detail when the time comes, and decide whether to pay $100 to a pro, or save $40 trying to do it myself…