I've just finished getting my laptop set up the way I like it, including maximising the RAM and upgrading the screen. I opened it up to use it, and the screws on the hinge tore through the plastic.
To top it off, the plastic on the bottom of the laptop, the side that's been removed here, has also broken.
My wife definitely didn't drop the laptop while she was tidying up though...
EDIT: Apologies all, I'm having trouble with Lemmy today, and it's not letting me reply.
I'll try to reply tomorrow, but in the meantime;
It's a Stonebook branded Clevo n751BU, a 7th gen i5. It's held up respectably well until it appears to have been knocked in the corner where the hinge is. The plastics on both sides of the hinge have given out.
I've ordered a replacement base, but the palm rest which is pictured is not available anywhere that I can find. I'm going to dismantle the hinge to clean and oil it, then reassemble it slightly less tightly, and epoxy the screws into place. The reason for taking it apart in the first place was to add a third hard drive. It has an nvme drive, and I had two HDDs going spare that can hold my documents and music. They're being synced now as I was having problems doing it remotely, but once they're in they can be managed with Syncthing. The laptop shouldn't need to come apart agin afterwards :)
I've been building and repairing computers and laptops for about 30 years, so I'm comfortable with completely stripping it, and can use it as an excuse to give everything a clean again. Short of replacing these HDDs with SSDs, there's nothing else that can physically be upgraded, so I'm half tempted to glue it shut so that I don't get tempted again :D
Laptop repair guy here! This problem is common in consumer grade laptops. As far as I am concerned, it’s purposefully weakly designed, because these break a LOT.
Not the hinge is broken, but the mounting points for the screws that keep the hinge in place. Sometimes it breaks on the bottom case, sometimes it breaks on the screen side.
We fix these issues regularly with epoxy (and massive skillz, lol). With most hinges, you can adjust the force a little lighter to relieve the pressure on the mounting points. That way it doesn’t fail again, after repair.
How can I adjust the force?
by loosening the screws of the hinge.
Is it possible that some hinges have hidden screws or use a different mechanism?
Yes, absolutely. Not all hinges are adjustable, unfortunately. In fact, I'd argue that most are not. Just have a look at the hinges at your place (doors, cabinets, toilet seat etc.), most will be very simple mechanisms with no inbuilt adjustment.
You can adjust the play mechanically, of course - that is, through application of a certain amount of force via deformation, which can be a destructive process if not done carefully.
There are hinges that expose an axial screw that allows for precise adjustment of hinge friction, but I have not seen those used for laptop display lids (nor did I personally encounter those in the small dimensions you would find on a laptop) . You'll find examples of those at Misumi or McMaster - Carr.
If your goal is to increase the friction in your laptop's display lid hinges, you might find that simply tightening all screws of and around the hinge often does the trick. Even though the main axial screw is not meant to be user accessible, it serves basically the same function and can tighten up the hinge. Tightening the screws used for mounting will ensure the lid doesn't wobble. You will have to (partially) take your laptop apart for that, naturally.
If your hinge doesn't have an axial screw at all and uses, let's say a pin, you might have to employ another method, but that would really depend on the actual mechanism being used.
As far as I can see without stripping everything yet, it looks like it's a pin. I might just have to clean and lube it, and hope for the best.