I customized a MacBook Neo with colorful spare parts

I opted for a replacement trackpad and bottom case successful blush, and USB-C ports and keycaps successful citrus. My extremity was to make it arsenic mishmash-y arsenic imaginable without changing retired much labor-intensive parts — for illustration the apical lawsuit aliases lid, which some require taking isolated the display.

The 4 parts we ordered costs $165.64 positive tax, which is astir 30 percent of the value of a caller Neo. So while it’s nosy to experiment, buying each these parts purely for aesthetics isn’t cost-effective. But you tin extremity up pinch thing uniquely yours.

Opening up the Neo is simple. Check retired iFixit’s extended guide and video if you want to spot really to tear down the full thing. Replacing the bottommost lawsuit is of people the easiest, since you person to unfastened it pinch a pentalobe screwdriver to entree the Neo’s innards anyway. The trackpad and USB-C ports were besides rather easy, requiring that I conscionable unplug immoderate ribbon cables and region respective Torx screws to put successful the freshly colored parts. After astir 40 minutes, I already had a customized Neo.

There are tons of nosy colour combos you could research pinch conscionable the trackpad, ports, and bottommost plate. But moreover those 3 replacement parts will costs you $126.64 — not thing for a $599 laptop.

But past came the keycaps. I was astir excited to customize these, arsenic my emotion for mechanical keyboards and colorful keycaps is good documented. I wanted to springiness the Neo a touch of the two-tone flair you spot connected mech keyboards — only changing the alphas, numbers, abstraction bar, and arrow keys to citrus, pinch the modifiers remaining indigo. Changing retired laptop keys is evidently harder than regular keycaps, but I figured I’d beryllium fine.

Reader, I was not fine.

I didn’t bid the small adhesives and integrative removal lever tools Apple sells you to region the keys. I overlooked the truth that you person to scroll down connected each parts page to spot if location are devices to bargain on pinch them. In my defense, Apple farmed retired the self-service repair shop to a third-party logistics company, and the tract is beautiful spartan.

You don’t need the keycap instrumentality and adhesive, but I stake it would beryllium easier and little risky than popping them disconnected pinch a spudger for illustration I did. But you should definitely not miss the instructions connected really to put the keys backmost in. I managed to harm the vulnerable hinge clips connected a fewer keys, and a metallic fin attaching an arrow key’s scissor move sheared disconnected earlier I figured retired the due measurement to connect the caller keycaps, acknowledgment to a couple videos. Notably, the key reassembly instructions are buried successful a secondary page linked astatine the bottommost of Apple’s written instructions.

Once I had the due technique, I was capable to instal the citrus keycaps connected the alpha and number keys (minus the A, D, 5, and 8 keys, wherever I had to usage the original undamaged indigo keys, and the W and S, which I kept indigo for the vibes). Sadly, reattaching the arrow key’s scissor move is astir apt going to require a travel to the Genius Bar. Maybe I should archive really they respond to seeing my multicolored Neo.

Despite my avoidable errors, these mods are very doable if you publication the instructions first and don’t get sloppy aliases unreserved done them. It mightiness not beryllium cost-effective to switch each the parts I did, and spending $80 to switch a perfectly bully trackpad does consciousness a spot silly. But conscionable swapping the keycaps for $39 (plus $13 for the removal toolkit) will get you beautiful far. Just please study from my mistakes.

But moreover if I didn’t nail these changes for illustration I hoped, I do emotion that this is moreover imaginable connected a MacBook. While I was cursing Apple nether my activity during the instal for its unintuitive parts tract and burying immoderate captious repair instructions, I dream the institution continues this inclination toward repairability pinch early MacBook Airs and Pros. And I dream we get much nosy colors for those excessively — including replacement parts to operation and lucifer astatine our ain peril.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge