https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YE8i9Br9WY
At this point Im going to back it up and take to warrranty from bestbuy
just curious how big of an issue it maybe, how long-big of a job this is..
and is it common?
thanks in advance
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.0
Welcome!
If this is a wiring harness issue, you usually see changes/flickers in the screen image as you gently move the display on its hinge.
For testing, you can also see if the defects/issues continue on an external monitor. If they do NOT, that pretty much isolates the issue to your display assembly. If it persists on the external, that suggests something far more worrisome is affecting logic board components.
As your video says you get freezes, you can try a Safe Mode boot:
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
I recommend that, if you achieve Safe Mode, you let the computer "soak" in safe mode for 20-30 minutes to let it finsh all its "housekeeping" before restarting in regular mode and checking.
Your entire hinged display unit, including the cable, is one sealed assembly. Individual components cannot be separately replaced. If one bit fails, you need a new assembly and they are not cheap.
We are end users like you and not able to officially give repair estimates, but other users who had Apple replace the assembly say total costs started around US$500 and go up with screen size. Only Apple can tell you more closely. Display issues like you show are almost never a home-fix job.
Even used/pulled assemblies, when you can find them, are around US$400 for just the part.
In the meantime, the slightest possibility of this being a logic board problem means you MUST get an least one backup preserved to an external drive before handing off your computer for service anywhere.
Your data storage is integral with the logic board. Unlike the "old days" when you could simply pull a drive from the computer to preserve data, there is now no avoiding the need for a secure and local external backup. Cloud backups of something that size are not optimum or as reliable.
Welcome!
If this is a wiring harness issue, you usually see changes/flickers in the screen image as you gently move the display on its hinge.
For testing, you can also see if the defects/issues continue on an external monitor. If they do NOT, that pretty much isolates the issue to your display assembly. If it persists on the external, that suggests something far more worrisome is affecting logic board components.
As your video says you get freezes, you can try a Safe Mode boot:
Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support
I recommend that, if you achieve Safe Mode, you let the computer "soak" in safe mode for 20-30 minutes to let it finsh all its "housekeeping" before restarting in regular mode and checking.
Your entire hinged display unit, including the cable, is one sealed assembly. Individual components cannot be separately replaced. If one bit fails, you need a new assembly and they are not cheap.
We are end users like you and not able to officially give repair estimates, but other users who had Apple replace the assembly say total costs started around US$500 and go up with screen size. Only Apple can tell you more closely. Display issues like you show are almost never a home-fix job.
Even used/pulled assemblies, when you can find them, are around US$400 for just the part.
In the meantime, the slightest possibility of this being a logic board problem means you MUST get an least one backup preserved to an external drive before handing off your computer for service anywhere.
Your data storage is integral with the logic board. Unlike the "old days" when you could simply pull a drive from the computer to preserve data, there is now no avoiding the need for a secure and local external backup. Cloud backups of something that size are not optimum or as reliable.
Looks like a hardware issue with the laptop's built-in Display Assembly which needs to be repaired.
thank you for your comprehensive analysis. I’m glad I got bestbuy warranty-they will fix it and if its too big of a job get me a new(refurbished perhaps) macbook.
I watched some videos and soon realized m1 in particular are nightmare to do it your self. Im not gambling that, nope.
thanks again yall
Hmm sounds like bigger job than i thought-was wondering as simple as some improper harness wiring plug
also a reference inforgot to mention- its m1 macbookair not intel
macbookair screen failure -inconsistency [w video]
