Can the LCD in a 1.5ghz 12in Powerbook G4 be upgraded at all? This is a 10 year old computer so I would think that there has to be SOME room for improvement. Maybe not an improvement in resolution, but maybe something a bit brighter?
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12in powerbook LCD
- Thread starter KevinRightWing
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Just wonder if it would be worth it just on age alone. Have to figure that LCD's dim over time. My single complaint really is that right side of the screen has brighter whites than the left.
Just a warning. I bought my wife's 12" PowerBook with a replacement LCD with the intent to swap it out because the one it came with was broken.
I successfully did that, but I am cautioning you about what is involved. The 12" PB has some very, very tight tolerances and spaces. To replace the LCD you MUST dissassemble the ENTIRE Mac.
The logicboard has to come out and that means that everything that is in the way also has to come out, including the heat sink. The heat sink has some special screws and if you aren't careful you can damage their connection to the logic board which makes screwing the heat sink back on rather haphazard.
There is a cable underneath the logicboard as well. You will ONLY know if you have correctly reconnected that cable once you have REASSEMBLED the entire Mac!
If you got it wrong (as I did) guess what you get to do - AGAIN?
My intent here is not to dissuade you, but just to point out that an LCD swap with the 12" PB is complicated.
I broke the sleeplight and two keys on the keyboard by the time I was all done. Making those repairs, including all the other stuff I got wrong meant by the time I was ready to give my wife her PB I had opened the damn thing at least five times.
I successfully did that, but I am cautioning you about what is involved. The 12" PB has some very, very tight tolerances and spaces. To replace the LCD you MUST dissassemble the ENTIRE Mac.
The logicboard has to come out and that means that everything that is in the way also has to come out, including the heat sink. The heat sink has some special screws and if you aren't careful you can damage their connection to the logic board which makes screwing the heat sink back on rather haphazard.
There is a cable underneath the logicboard as well. You will ONLY know if you have correctly reconnected that cable once you have REASSEMBLED the entire Mac!
If you got it wrong (as I did) guess what you get to do - AGAIN?
My intent here is not to dissuade you, but just to point out that an LCD swap with the 12" PB is complicated.
I broke the sleeplight and two keys on the keyboard by the time I was all done. Making those repairs, including all the other stuff I got wrong meant by the time I was ready to give my wife her PB I had opened the damn thing at least five times.
Do you have directions?
I ask because I sure missed that when I did it. I followed iFixit's guide and they mentioned nothing about that!
Erik will now proceed to smack himself in the head a few times and regret using a saw on that PowerBook.
LOL!
Yeah, I followed the instructions that called for the replacement of the entire thing. The back, the bezel, the screen, etc.
Suppose I should have asked back then but I was going by my experience with the 17".
And if he's going to smack himself in the head with the Powerbook, I just hope he's careful since they dent easily
Allright, allright! Ha ha ha.And if he's going to smack himself in the head with the Powerbook, I just hope he's careful since they dent easily
On the flip side of this, this was a 12" PB that had rolled down a flight of stairs. With a new hard drive, a new screen and a patch job on the battery her Mac has worked flawlessly since.
I'm most proud of the job I did on the battery though. The metallic cover had popped off, so I cleaned that and the bottom of the battery off. Super glue fixed that issue.
My next problem was getting the battery to stay in the bay. Again super glue, but this time it was for a picture hook that I bent in enough that it would catch the edge of the battery bay. Finally, the metallic button to test battery strength had come off, so again super glue and the butt end of one of those ball point pens that you click to make the writing end appear. I cut it off because the barrell was the right diameter to fit into the button hole on the battery.
Result: battery secure and a button to test the battery strength!
I just built a PB 12" from a 1ghz, and two beat up 1.33ghz, using all the best parts from them (including removing the motherboard 3x, hurray for ifixit guides). I ended up with a very nice 1.33 that runs great. I'm very happy with it, and love the small form factor. I have Leopard installed.
Please tell about this panel upgrade.
Prepare to spend more money on your machine than what it's worth: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1155671/
Thanks for the link...
I'm actually giving this serious consideration. I have two working 1.5ghz models, but am also waiting on a box of parts that will have enough to put together one or two more.
If I can find the panel for a decent price, it would probably be just as easy to put one back together with the upgraded panel as with the original.
Speaking from experience, using a larger display on the Nvidia 5200 of those PowerBooks can offer quite poor graphical performance. I simply used mine in Clamshell mode and was shocked at how poor it performed.
Anyone know if this panel would work? It's the same p/n as specified in the linked post, although apparently for an HP and not a Thinkpad.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-2710p-27...097?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item462e343cd1
(MODS: Not my auction-simply asking if something will work for me).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-2710p-27...097?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item462e343cd1
(MODS: Not my auction-simply asking if something will work for me).
That appears to be a different panel which I believe has a different connector. The LCD that brycemason used was off a T61 tablet and had model number HV121P01-100.