2008 MacBook Pro (non-unibody) screen upgrade?

upsguy27

upsguy27

macrumors 65816
I just got an early 2008 MacBook Pro (my favorite apple design ever), and since I'm using it as my main computer, I've been upgrading every aspect of it, and it's surprisingly very usable. The only thing that isn't great is the display resolution. Is there any way at all I can put a higher-res display in here? I know there were unofficial high-res display for the 15" PowerBook G4s, and there's obviously a high-res upgrade for the unibody MBPs. I know Apple didn't ever officially offer a higher res display for the non-unibody MBPs, but is there any way I can put a higher res display? Would the display from the unibody pros work (even if I have to modify it to fit)?
 
upsguy27 said:
I know Apple didn't ever officially offer a higher res display for the non-unibody MBPs...
Click to expand...

There's your answer right there. Laptops, and particularly Apple's aren't really meant to be compatible with other parts unless it was an option on that particular model. Even between similar looking MacBooks things can change internally, even the display cable or location.

The 1440x900 15" LED display really isn't that bad IMO. Pretty pleasing for an 8 year old display.

I'm also curious about your sig. You state an Early 2008 MBP, but at 2.2 GHz? As far as I know the base model started at 2.4 GHz. 2.2 sounds like the 2007 (SR) model.

I did have a Mid 2007 2.4 GHz model in late 2013 myself. It was a good Mac but I sold it because I didn't trust the 8600m GT in these guys. Even if it was pretty cheap. Other than the known GPU issues, they're still great computers. If you haven't already, replacing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU and giving it a good cleaning can help a bit. Along with SMCfancontrol for keeping the RPMs up a bit on your lap or to cool the GPU. 4GB RAM and an SSD (even at SATA 1) are almost a must but I see you've got that covered :).
 
Yup...

Whole new ballgame with the Penryn 2.4 (early 2008) and it can use 6GB of RAM.
The two slots allow a 4GB and a 2GB.

With a SSD, it is really better than new.:cool:
 
I have these items

I have these items for sale along with an actual 2008 MBP.

240 Seagate SSD and 6 gb of ram

Let me know if you are interested.
 
BrettApple said:
There's your answer right there. Laptops, and particularly Apple's aren't really meant to be compatible with other parts unless it was an option on that particular model. Even between similar looking MacBooks things can change internally, even the display cable or location.

The 1440x900 15" LED display really isn't that bad IMO. Pretty pleasing for an 8 year old display.

I'm also curious about your sig. You state an Early 2008 MBP, but at 2.2 GHz? As far as I know the base model started at 2.4 GHz. 2.2 sounds like the 2007 (SR) model.

I did have a Mid 2007 2.4 GHz model in late 2013 myself. It was a good Mac but I sold it because I didn't trust the 8600m GT in these guys. Even if it was pretty cheap. Other than the known GPU issues, they're still great computers. If you haven't already, replacing the thermal paste on the CPU/GPU and giving it a good cleaning can help a bit. Along with SMCfancontrol for keeping the RPMs up a bit on your lap or to cool the GPU. 4GB RAM and an SSD (even at SATA 1) are almost a must but I see you've got that covered :).
Click to expand...

Whoops yeah that's what I meant, I need to fix that, it's the late 2007 Santa Rosa. Yeah, very first thing I did was took the whole thing apart, cleaned it, replaced the thermal paste, and replaced the internal HDD with a 240GB Samsung SSD. Thanks for the advice the SMCfancontrol!
 
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