Anyone interested in a Hi-def (1920 x 1200) mod for PB/MBP?

[peapody]

Didn't mean to hijack a thread
But I finally got 15"AG-HR MBP

I had few reservations on how it would perform with my workflow ...
But I'm officially totally blown away

Anyways judging form 1680 pix, I would assume it would be too much - for me - to go to 1920 pix.

Though I'm still a bit jealous when I see a guy with 17"AG'MBP in my local coffee shop.

I dont think you would ever see that gigantic machine at a coffee shop.

 

[pandashark]

LED backlit

sounds like this might've been hashed a bit (I searched the thread for the topic), but what's the latest word on modify LED backlit screens? I've been searching around for LED panels, and there really isn't too many. but there are a few. I'm interested in swapping the stock panel for a WSXGA+ panel (1680X1050)...i think 1900X1200 is way too high for a 15.4" screen. Anyway I found this site (no idea if it's reliable) that has some LED WSXGA screens:

http://www.blisscomputers.net/search.aspx?find=15.4+WSXGA+LED

Do those screens look like they would work?

 

[jeffwe]

Hey Folks-

Thanks for this thread. I've upgraded my 15" MBP (Pre-Santa Rosa) to 1920x1200 using a matte LG panel I got from Bliss Computer on EBay. While the instructions I found seems to indicate this brand of panel may be problematic it is working just fine for me.

Only issue I see is the bootup screen is funky. But I don't care. I love this resolution. Now I'm going to swap out the drive for an SSD and keep using this macbook pro for years.

Thanks!

 

[plasticphyte]

I ended up deciding that if I wanted the HR screen, I would buy the MBP with it - the supply of HR screens that fit (same model) is very limited (at least in my research and available locally in Australia).

 

[calvinl]

I have a question:
I've bought the LTN154P1-L02 screen (matte, 1680*1050), because I've broken my old 1440*900 screen (LTN154X7). It works fine, but I don't like it, because the things on the screen are too small in my opinion.
So does anybody here still have the original Macbook Pro Core Duo's 1440*900 matte screen and doesn't need it/ can give/ sell it to me? Or does anyone want to swap his original screen with my screen?
Thank you!

samy! i have a core2duo macbook pro 15, not unibody and dying for a 1680x1050 screen. Still interested in trading/selling?

 

[panzer06]

Hey Folks-

Thanks for this thread. I've upgraded my 15" MBP (Pre-Santa Rosa) to 1920x1200 using a matte LG panel I got from Bliss Computer on EBay. While the instructions I found seems to indicate this brand of panel may be problematic it is working just fine for me.

Only issue I see is the bootup screen is funky. But I don't care. I love this resolution. Now I'm going to swap out the drive for an SSD and keep using this macbook pro for years.

Thanks!

Now that's the spirit! It is a great screen. I enjoyed mine while I had it.

Cheers,

 

[daveren]

Clamshell Mode Problem

I did the mod with a Toshiba panel on a broken MBP C2D 2.16 (Snow Leopard) and it worked right off using the famous "sleep" technique....

I put the MBP into clamshell mode by connecting a mouse and keyboard - closing the lid - the display goes black. When restarted with no external display, the laptop display reverted back to its original dark with lines. Like before the sleep trick.....

I have copied in Faye's overriide file. It seems to be reading that when it comes out of the clamshell mode, but the colors are way off. The Model and Manufacture numbers look correct (40022 / 1552) looking a the display configuration file. Do I need to change the data fields to match my display and computer and OS?

I "fixed" it by taking it apart and doing the sleep trick again, but I was really hoping to use the clamshell mode.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks, ...... Dave
in Victoria BC

PS I am not sure I like this mod. I didn't pay much for the used Dell panel, so someone could get a really good deal or a swap. It has one little scratch on the far right edge.

 

[Corndog5595]

who bumped this, jeez.

 

[AlphaDogg]

who bumped this, jeez.

Exactly what I was thinking... This post needs to go back down in the oblivion of threads of MacRumors past.

 

[Corndog5595]

looks like this has been bumped at least twice...
find a mod to close/lock it?

 

[panzer06]

looks like this has been bumped at least twice...
find a mod to close/lock it?

Exactly what I was thinking... This post needs to go back down in the oblivion of threads of MacRumors past.

who bumped this, jeez.

I'm curious as to why you suggest this if people still get some limited use from it. This thread must be more worthwhile than the 500th antennagate I hate ip4 thread over in the iPhone area.

Cheers,

 

[Corndog5595]

good point.

 

[peapody]

I'm curious as to why you suggest this if people still get some limited use from it. This thread must be more worthwhile than the 500th antennagate I hate ip4 thread over in the iPhone area.

Cheers,

You win.

 

[noetus]

Exactly what I was thinking... This post needs to go back down in the oblivion of threads of MacRumors past.

This thread celebrated its 4th birthday on the 9th of June 2010... that's 4 years of continuous posting, every month, without "bumps" but real posts of people asking questions and getting answers.

That's fairly impressive for a thread "in oblivion", eh?

I'm heartened there are still people getting use out of this thread. I did this mod 3 years ago and my 2.33GHz MBP is still going strong with the 1920x1200 display, which I love. People like this mod enough they are buying older MBPs on purpose to be able to do it.

Once my trusty MBP dies (I hope to get another year of it) I think I'll have to step up to the 17" model to get the high res display. Can't bear the thought of having to downgrade.

 

[noetus]

I put the MBP into clamshell mode by connecting a mouse and keyboard - closing the lid - the display goes black. When restarted with no external display, the laptop display reverted back to its original dark with lines. Like before the sleep trick.....

Greetings to you in Victoria! Went there in 1995 on a ferry from Seattle and loved it.

I believe I was the one who originally posted about the "sleep" method... I've always had trouble using the clamshell mode and I've just learned to stop using the MBP with the screen closed. I've had to disassemble the MBP again 3-4 times since the original mod after putting it in clamshell and losing the screen. My experience is that after doing that the usual sleep trick doesn't work any more and I've had to fiddle for hours using override files, etc, to get it all back and working again. Actually I'm not really sure what the method is to get it working again, I just fiddle with stuff and eventually it does.

I wish I knew if there was a fix for this but I just don't. Best advice I can give: never close the laptop screen when using an external monitor!

 

[crashnburn]

I'd love to have a QXGA on my T61 and/or WUXGA on a 13/15" MacPro. Anyone using one of these mods recently.. ?

Lutris, I was able to put that gorgeous qxga in my T60p after some hacking and flashing the eeprom so I am going to buy another one.
Panzer I got the one without any additional letters or numbers after the model number. Be very careful remembering the direction and orientation of the inverter board. I broke two when replacing the back cover because I had put the board flipped over and the metal clip broke the inverter board when I pushed the cover back in.
Take the plunge, the mbp 15 is awesome in wuxga. Also the matte screen also looks awesome, less reflection, crisper but less vibrant. Both good for different reasons.

I'm curious about you getting the qxga physically into the T60p. I remember some people on forum.thinkpads.com giving up on that project becase the lcd is too thick for the case. How did you do? Does it look hacked from the outside? Lid close alright? Care to post some pics?

Upgrade complete. Screen is Matte (not glossy as ordered but looks great) and displays 1920*1200. Remarkably, text is not as small as I thought it would be.

I must admit I chickened out at the last min and paid Onyx Consulting (visiting Atlanta and heard they do good work) to install the display. 2 hours @ $80 hr with the help of this thread (sleep method success!) and the tech got it up and running!

MR Rocks!

Cheers,

Do you have a contact info for these tech guys? Any others recommended?

As you know I purchased the LP154WU1 A01 Glossy and received Matte
Received just the LCD panel with one cord sticking out. Tech used existing inverter, etc.
Tech had to use sleep method described in wiki to activate screen.
Vista Business 32bit still not working properly. Looks to be driver issue.

Just received bootable eSata card so will install XP to see if the problem persists, also will try fresh Vista load.

More to follow.

Cheers,

Did anyone else buy from your source and have a similar issue?

You are absolutely correct, however, i was able to figure it out with the help of great folks at forum.thinkpads.com, specifically user Troels. My journey is described in detail in this thread. Since then I have purchased another T60 and another QXGA to have as backup. I had no problem fitting the screen physically in either T60p or T60 both 15", former was UXGA BoeHydis and latter had a cheapo XGA, now both sport flawless QXGA screens.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=66257

Good luck, and watch for the soldering skills! BTW do not use a MBP LCD cable to hookup to do the flash, it's wired differently from the thinkpad's.

I'd love to know how you did it. I am looking to do the same.

Ok, I installed Powerstrip and was able to get it working. Once installed and the icon was on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen I right clicked and selected disply profiles, configure, advanced timing options. For horizontal timing I clicked down once and it changed to 74.114 kHz

Screen is perfect. The only issue is the screen resets with each boot and does not correct until Powerstrip loads at boot. We need someone who understands how all this bootcamp bios emulation stuff works to be able to set timings at boot.

View attachment 134705

Thanks for all the help. This has been a great project!

Cheers,

Did you try with an independent partition / another OS...?

Has anyone done this mod with a MBP that has a LED screen (the Santa Rosa models) yet? There's a few companies (Dell, HP, IBM, Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba) that are selling 15.4" WUXGA screens according to the search on blisscomputers.

I'd love to do a mod like this (the res is my biggest complaint about my MBP…) however since the screens are $350-$400 per screen, I don't really have the money to buy a screen at random and hope it works..

My question as well...

I've decided to get one of the new MBPs or MBs and sell my modded MBP. Anyone interested?

2.33GHz, Samsung HD screen, matte, 3GBs ram, 250GB hdd, etc.

PM me to start a discussion. TIA!

I know this was a while back... do you still have it or anyone else w a WUXGA mod machine?

Know nothing about this. I paid a shop to perform the upgrade and I believe they did the sleep method with both old and new displays partially connected. I've never reset PRAM or any thing and I used SuperDuper to migrate my data from another MBP. Works fine and hope I never need to reset anything.

Cheers,

Where did you get it done? Which LED/LCD did you get for the mod & which machine?

Hey Folks-

Thanks for this thread. I've upgraded my 15" MBP (Pre-Santa Rosa) to 1920x1200 using a matte LG panel I got from Bliss Computer on EBay. While the instructions I found seems to indicate this brand of panel may be problematic it is working just fine for me.

Only issue I see is the bootup screen is funky. But I don't care. I love this resolution. Now I'm going to swap out the drive for an SSD and keep using this macbook pro for years.

Thanks!

Which machine did you say you have again?

Now that's the spirit! It is a great screen. I enjoyed mine while I had it.

Cheers,

 

[unagimiyagi]

Can you upgrade the 2008 penryn macbook pro to a 1680x1050 resolution screen? This would be the nice higher gamut screens used currently, but in the form factor right before the unibody design came out.

 

[panzer06]

Where did you get it done? Which LED/LCD did you get for the mod & which machine?

Mine was a non-LED LCD for the MBP 2.16 with ATI x1600 (LP154WU1 A01).

http://onyxconsulting.com/service-centers did the original mod. Once Vista messed it up I took it apart myself.

Interesting experience. My 1920x1200 matte screen was not as bright as the OEM 1440x900 screen but the screen real-estate was great for working with multiple documents.

Can you upgrade the 2008 penryn macbook pro to a 1680x1050 resolution screen? This would be the nice higher gamut screens used currently, but in the form factor right before the unibody design came out.

I'm sure you could find a screen the right size. I just don't know if the connectors would match. On the old ones you had to get one that had the right connectors. I'm sure there's a teardown for your model somewhere on the internet.

Cheers,

 

[ToroidalZeus]

I'm curious to know if the display connectors in the late 2008 unibody 15.4" MBP are the same as the one used in the mid 2010 15.4" hi-res MBP, and if so, where I could get one of the displays from (glossy). I'd be half tempted to retrofit it if it was possible.

The iFixit teardown of the mid 2010 15.4" didn't really say if the display used the same connector or not. I imagine it would. Hopefully it would be a straight swap...

I looked at the pictures and it appears the connections are the same but like I said, appears.

 

[uberamd]

I did this upgrade on a original MacBook Pro and ran into the screen color issue. When trying to start bootcamp, or when using the device in clamshell mode the screen colors get all screwed up. The only way I have found to fix this is to disassemble the LCD casing, plug in the original LCD, boot the system, sleep it, then swap back to the HD LCD. Is there a better way? I had put the 1440x900 LCD back in because I was sick of doing this swap constantly every time the colors decided to get funky.

 

[agahnim]

Just wanted to post and let people know that I got a Samsung LTN154P1-L02 working in my Core Duo MacBook Pro. I just needed to do the sleep trick and works great.

 

[AnonMac50]

Hi, I have an Early 2008 MBP (LED Backlit, non-unibody), and I have a resolution of 1440x900. I know it has been said a lot that the LED Macs can't have custom panels. But now that the new MBPs have an option of 1680x1050, I feel like having the same resolution. Besides, I need the space. Is there a way, or is it still not possible? If possible, I'd even go for the 1920x1200 (I like the small size). Thank you.

 

[napierzaza]

Any word for updating mid-2009 Macbook pros to hi resolution? They are the model just before Apple offered the hi resolution display. It's interesting that if you look at some online stores they sell the standard screens and say that the screen can work for the current generation AND the mid-2009 MBP while they note that he Hi Resolution panels won't.

I imagine if the SD panels are so completely interchangeable, that the connectors and communication methods must be the same. Now with this post I feel like it's even more likely that the mid-2009 MBP unibodies are compatible with the more recent generation.

Can anyone corroborate?

See here:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/15-Inch-MacBook-Unibody-Display-LCD-Screen-NEW-p-17295.html

 

[AnonMac50]

Any word for updating mid-2009 Macbook pros to hi resolution? They are the model just before Apple offered the hi resolution display. It's interesting that if you look at some online stores they sell the standard screens and say that the screen can work for the current generation AND the mid-2009 MBP while they note that he Hi Resolution panels won't.

I imagine if the SD panels are so completely interchangeable, that the connectors and communication methods must be the same. Now with this post I feel like it's even more likely that the mid-2009 MBP unibodies are compatible with the more recent generation.

Can anyone corroborate?

See here:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/15-Inch-MacBook-Unibody-Display-LCD-Screen-NEW-p-17295.html

I think you can swap them, though I haven't tried.

 

[DoFoT9]

I did this upgrade on a original MacBook Pro and ran into the screen color issue. When trying to start bootcamp, or when using the device in clamshell mode the screen colors get all screwed up. The only way I have found to fix this is to disassemble the LCD casing, plug in the original LCD, boot the system, sleep it, then swap back to the HD LCD. Is there a better way? I had put the 1440x900 LCD back in because I was sick of doing this swap constantly every time the colors decided to get funky.

original MBP as in with X1600? i was considering this - but not now!

no fix from my end sorry