Introduction
This one I got asked recently - what’s the cost of a replacement keyboard? That question was missing a lot of information, so let’s get into what’s needed to provide a costing.
Labour Price Range
Something that people want to know is the general cost. As of this writing (2024-11-28) a laptop keyboard replacement (labour cost) is around JMD$3,500 to JMD$10,000 depending on the situation. Let’s get into that to see why.
Cost Of Keyboard
This will depend on the model of the device and type of keyboard. Backlit or regular will be different prices. Full palmrest or keyboard only will have different prices. The costing for the parts will range from USD$20 up to USD$150.
Laptop Keyboard Types
There are basically three types of keyboards that you’ll come across.
- Top Mounted
- Inside Mounted
- Built Into Palmrest
Top Mounted
These types are the easiest to replace. Usually a few screws and you can just pop out the keyboard after releasing some clips. Cheapest to get done.
An example of what may be a top-mounted keyboard is above. Just visually, it appears to be HP or Lenovo and slots into the top of the palmrest.
Inside Mounted
These and the ones built-in are somewhat similar. You have to disassemble the laptop to get to them and they’re likely held in place by a set of screws or bracket. If it’s a small number of screws (20 or less) or a bracket with just a few screws, the cost will be determined by the difficulty of disassembly and access. This doesn’t usually pass JMD$5,000 unless some things are REALLY difficult to get to.
The price will go up if there are a LOT of small screws. I’ve personally disassembled a system with over 100 tiny screws holding in the keyboard alone.
Built Into Palmrest
On to the last one which is the most annoying. Similar to the inside mounted, these are held in place with plastic rivets. As this is a factory process, it’s recommended to replace the entire palmrest with a new one that includes a keyboard. If you choose to proceed without doing so, there are no guarantees that the keyboard will feel the same when using it after replacement. There are keyboard-only replacements, but after removing the plastic rivets you can only glue the parts back in place. The plastic will not hold as well and the keyboard will sink. This can be somewhat helped with UV glue, but the cost will then definitely go up to the JMD$10,000 range.
An entire bezel replacement will also depend on how things are mounted inside the laptop. If the keyboard is on top of the chassis and parts are inside the chassis, then it will cost less. If the parts are mounted on the palmrest side and the bottom cover just comes off - then it will cost more to do the replacement and swap over all your parts.
Hopefully this covers the information you’ll need to make a decision.