Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Swap Penryn and SR displays on 15" MBP?

E

eyespii

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 8, 2008
372
0
So I just got a brand new Penryn MBP in the mail, turned it on, and noticed some really nasty yellowing of the LCD (9c82). It's much worse than my current SR MBP that I am planning on returning due to a defective DVD drive (still within 30 days). I can't swap it at the apple store because the MBP was ordered off of Amazon.

My question is - would it be ok to simply swap the two LCDs? They should be interchangeable right? I don't like the idea of prying open my brand new Penryn MBP, but I'm getting really tired of playing the LCD game. I also am getting really sick of mailing the MBPs back and forth to Amazon...
 
I think it's the same part, but not 100% sure. That would be great if you could do that...
 
Yeah they should be the same part (just that one is much MUCH crappier than the other).

Would anyone else have reservations of doing this? Also, since I plan on returning the SR MBP back to Amazon, would they care (or even notice) that the LCD that it shipped with is not the same exact one that is getting shipped back? And how would it affect future warranty usage on the new Penryn MBP? Like if I swapped LCDs, and then 6 months down the line the LCD on the Penryn goes bad, is Apple going to notice or care?

Thanks for the advice
 
I think you can just remove the hinge part from one and move it to the other. Considering they're both essentially the same computers (Both SR, just the processor is different)
 
eyespii said:
Yeah they should be the same part (just that one is much MUCH crappier than the other).

Would anyone else have reservations of doing this? Also, since I plan on returning the SR MBP back to Amazon, would they care (or even notice) that the LCD that it shipped with is not the same exact one that is getting shipped back? And how would it affect future warranty usage on the new Penryn MBP? Like if I swapped LCDs, and then 6 months down the line the LCD on the Penryn goes bad, is Apple going to notice or care?

Thanks for the advice
Click to expand...

I don't think they'll ever find out or know. Amazon will just process it like any other return - mindlessly without any real interest. Apple might be able to figure it out given that the model ID is different for the current displays - but that would assume that the technician is paying attention and/or cares. They'd have to look up your history to see that you havent' had your display swapped earlier by Apple. Again, very much doubt they'd even think of that given how many machines they're working on and how little personal interest there must be.
 
Sorry about being nit-picky, but technically the current Penryn MBP still is a SR MBP :eek:

But concerning the topic, does anyone know where I can buy good MBP screens? I am just curious because I want to know how much Apple would charge for a replacement versus me buying one myself for replacement.
 
PDE said:
I don't think they'll ever find out or know. Amazon will just process it like any other return - mindlessly without any real interest. Apple might be able to figure it out given that the model ID is different for the current displays - but that would assume that the technician is paying attention and/or cares. They'd have to look up your history to see that you havent' had your display swapped earlier by Apple. Again, very much doubt they'd even think of that given how many machines they're working on and how little personal interest there must be.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this statement - most of the techs that I've come across couldn't give a rat's ass about checking this kind of stuff. The only way it'd be possible is if the LCD assembly has some sort of bar code on it that they scan. If that's the case, then the bar code would probably be tied to my computer's serial number.
 
I don't think (but I don't know for sure) that LCDs are linked to the rest of the system through barcodes/serials. And I doubt they have a system in place to warn for a situation where a customer has replaced a screen by themselves! I'm sure they just assume that it's the screen that came with the laptop - if something is wrong with it, they swap it out quickly without much thought. I think you'll be fine swapping it out. My experience with Apple is that pretty much anything could have happened at the factory in China - including somebody grabbing an older model display laying around and put it on a new machine!! There's obviously almost no quality control to speak of so it's not like they're all tested and checked before they leave the factory.

Crazy that this is what it's come to...
 
So I ended up doing the LCD swap with the old SR MBP and the new Penryn MBP. The swap itself was a cinch, though I had swapped multiple MBP HDDs before already, so I kind of already knew my way around. The iFixit guides are a little bit out of date, but I managed to make do.

Now I've got a new Penryn that so far is perfect! I'm glad you guys convinced me to do the screen swap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back