Right hinge broken and left side of the laptop now flexes, never buying an Acer again

I have an Aspire A515-55-56VK. This is not the first quality issue I've had with this laptop. I have also experienced excessive keyboard and trackpad wear. More details in my other thread at https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/654311/anyone-else-have-excessive-keyboard-and-trackpad-wear-on-an-aspire-5-a515-55-56vks#latest. That was bad enough, but now this laptop seems to be falling apart.

Yesterday, I noticed that the right hinge had separated from the top half of the laptop. This makes the screen wobbly and difficult to close, and also introduces a risk of damage to the wifi cable and screen from getting stabbed by metal. Apparently, instead of just screwing the hinge into the top panel which is made out of nice metal, Acer glued some thin plastic to the metal and screwed the hinge into the plastic. Obviously, that ended up breaking, and seeing how it was constructed I'm surprised it even survived the first time I opened it, let alone a year of use. I'm not even sure why they'd even bother with slightly increasing the cost of the laptop by making the top panel out of metal rather than plastic if they were just going to do that. A new panel appears to cost about $40, carries a risk of breaking the screen because it's held to the panel with glue and therefore has to be pried off, and will probably just break again in another year.

Additionally, I have noticed that the left edge has started to bend and emit a creaking sound whenever I open or close the laptop. I am worried that opening and closing the laptop is now repeatedly bending the motherboard back and forth and will eventually cause that to fail too, as from what I've heard they really don't like to be bent. It was doing that a little bit before the hinge broke, but is doing that a bit more after the hinge broke. Not sure if they are related.

This piece of **** hasn't even been in use for a full year yet. (Though warranty has expired because it was purchased slightly before I got to start using it, and it wouldn't have been useful to me anyways because the shipping would cost more than the repairs and I cannot be without the laptop for more than a day or two.) Except for batteries (and to a lesser extent storage) which are consumable by nature, computers should last for as long as they aren't obsolete. This thing has been treated well, so lasting less than a year is unacceptable. I will never buy an Acer again.

I don't want to spend money on a new laptop and send this one to a landfill yet, so I would still like to continue to use it for as long as it remains usable. (Though it wouldn't surprise me if that wasn't a very long time.) Some questions to possibly extend the life of the laptop:

If I don't want to replace the top panel, is it OK if I remove the right hinge to make opening and closing the laptop less annoying and reduce the risk of damage to the screen and wifi cable? Or is it still likely providing some support despite not actually being attached and removing it will make the left hinge break sooner?
Could the left side bending and creaking when I open or close the laptop be related to the right side hinge failure (implying that I should reconsider not replacing the top panel), or is it more likely to be a separate issue that happened to develop at the same time?

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JackE

Not sure of exactly what you need but here's a view of the lid with the various part nos. Google search the part nos you need to find vendors who ship to your location.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/62/f6vwpaq17hrq.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/0x/13yt12jsaj52.jpg

vwThaZNSBgbHLnJO

Not sure where you got that diagram, but those types of things are useful. It's part 7 that broke. There is no longer anything for the right hinge to screw into. However, I don't want to replace that part unless I have to because it appears to cost about $40 price+shipping, and due to the very bad design I expect to have to buy new ones every year at least. Additionally, the screen is glued to this piece and would need to be pried off, and this carries a significant risk of breaking the screen, especially because I don't have anything to heat it up with, and even if I did it carries a risk of damaging the screen through overheating. I don't want to damage the screen because it also costs a lot to replace and my laptop would be unusable as I wait for a new one. I cannot have my laptop out of service for more than a day or two, and overnight shipping from random sellers on ebay and aliexpress isn't really a thing.

Also, could the left side bending when I open and close the laptop have anything to do with the hinge failure? If so, I'll probably still replace the part because I don't want a dead motherboard. And is removing the non-attached hinge a bad idea?

JackE

Ideally, the lid should be opened/closed from top center if possible. This not only helps to equalize load on both hinges, but minimizes twisting stress on the screen and its enclosure. And because the hinges and their anchors are the most stressed laptop parts, it helps to move the lid as little as possible in consumer-grade non-ruggedized plastic designs. It also helps to reduce the number of bending motions the LCD video FFC is subjected to in the crowded hinge area, which often leads to conductor trace/wire breaks adversely affecting both video & camera.

vwThaZNSBgbHLnJO

I'm already opening and closing from the top center. Since the right hinge is now dead, should I be opening and closing from the top left corner instead?

My best guess is that the hinge gets opened and closed 3-5 times per day. That means that my hinges are probably somewhere between 1000 and 2000 cycles right now. Is that really too many? It seems pretty average to me, and I can't reduce it any further.

Ingrid-Inactive

Hello vwThaZNSBgbHLnJO,

I am sorry to hear the experience you’re having with your notebook. I sent you a private message requesting some information. please reply at your convenience.