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Fixing the bottom rubber of a mid-2010 or late-2009 MacBook

All my regular readers know that I love the late 2009 and mid-2010 white unibody MacBook notebooks.  They're robust, they're still very capable, and they can still run the latest MacOS.

One problem with these old beasts is the bottom rubber can detach.  Apple used to provide free replacements, but that program ended more than a year ago.

So what do you do to fix the bottom?  It's easy!  Here's what I did:
  1. Remove the bottom plate by removing the 8 bottom screws.
  2. Fully peel off the failed rubber and fully expose the aluminum.
  3. Use small pieces of permanent tape on the "back side" of the lid to cover the drill holes in the aluminum.
  4. Fully clean the "exposed side" of the aluminum plate.
  5. Apply small stick-on rubber feet to each corner.
  6. Coat the "exposed side" of the plate with several coats of Plasti-Dip spray paint.  I picked red, but there are many colors available.
  7. Re-attach the bottom plate to the laptop.
There we go!  Now I have a nice rubberized bottom plate once again.  It looks great, it is stable, and it only cost about a quarter can of rubber paint to repair.

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