MSI Delta Hinge problem

Thomas A. Fine · January 19, 2024

So my MSI Delta 15 hinge has pulled away from the back panel of the screen on one side. Is it better if I epoxy it back on, or order a replacement back panel from ebay for $60-80? And by better, I mean, which will last longer? If epoxy will form a stronger repair than the original plastic, I'll do that because it's cheaper and faster (but not "tidier").

Or should I add a metal plate to the other side of the back panel, and drill all the way through, and put in a nut/bolt/lockwasher, so that it will absolutely last for a long time? Honestly the only downside I see here is the nut snagging on backpacks. Arguably, it might even look cool.

It's only a one-year warranty, so I lose there, and yes this is a widespread problem on many MSI laptops.

Levent · January 19, 2024

I used to repair crap ton of laptops with similar problems when I was in high school. Long story short, repair or replace it’s not going to last. You sadly can’t repair a bad design. Epoxy can work and was the method I preferred but that pretty much meant that some laptops were never getting their screens replaced or getting completely disassembled ever again. My recommendation, replace it with original parts and dump the device on second hand.

Thomas A. Fine · January 20, 2024

1 hour ago, Levent said:

I used to repair crap ton of laptops with similar problems when I was in high school. Long story short, repair or replace it’s not going to last. You sadly can’t repair a bad design. Epoxy can work and was the method I preferred but that pretty much meant that some laptops were never getting their screens replaced or getting completely disassembled ever again. My recommendation, replace it with original parts and dump the device on second hand.

I'm not a "dump second hand" kind of guy. My previous laptop, an HP ProBook 4540s that I hackintoshed, literally lasted me a full decade before I decided it wasn't keeping up. (It still works fine). So I spec'ed this laptop to also last a very long time (and I bumped the ram to 32G and added a second 1TB SSD). It's an AMD Advantage laptop, which I got so I could run Linux with AMD's open source drivers instead of Nvidia's proprietary drivers. I love every aspect of the laptop except for the fact that the hinge just broke.

How likely is it that I can epoxy the hinge back without gluing any other components in? I def don't want to paint myself into a corner in terms of repairability.

Screwing extra metal plates into the back of the screen is looking more and more attractive.

Levent · January 20, 2024

1 minute ago, Thomas A. Fine said:

How likely is it that I can epoxy the hinge back without gluing any other components in? I def don't want to paint myself into a corner in terms of repairability.

Unless you hack together supports hinges/panel itself, Its going to break again I guarantee it. I can also say for a fact that decade of use with a problematic hinge/top half design is going to be a dream not a reality.

Thomas A. Fine · January 24, 2024

I have to say that with the Frameworks 16 coming out, just ditching this thing and buying that is a VERY attractive option.

Is it a lot more expensive? Yes, a lot. I paid $1200 new for the MSI (got a great deal, back to school sale, plus the advantage edition laptops are not that popular and get cheap pretty fast). And I'd likely spend a thousand or more above that on the frameworks. BUT, if the cheaper laptop is having a serious structural issue in less than two years, the money I saved seems pointless, compared to a laptop that is both probably more durable AND easy and inexpensive to repair and upgrade for years to come, that seems well worth it.

Note that the all AMD components of the MSI Delta 15 was a big selling point to me since I'm running Linux, and the fact that Frameworks is also purely AMD plays a big part in my interest.