Hello all,
I thought I'd outline my isolation project incase anyone wanted to tackle the same thing I had done. The title says it all, it is a 2.13GHz MacBook 5,2 in a Black Case, running Mojave. Let me tell you the backstory before I get to the build outline.
For a long time, I have always loved the A1181 MacBooks in Black, and I had always wanted one even if I couldn't use it much. After we got the shelter in place in my state, I decided to spend $50 on an almost mint Black 2008 MacBook 4,1. It came in the mail the following week and it looked perfect (except for a bad OEM battery). I immediately changed out the spinning drive for a 256GB SSD, and dropped 4GB of DDR2 memory into it, as well as loading a fresh copy of Mac OS X Lion. The computer worked great and was pretty fast, but the drawbacks were that it was very loud under light load and had software compatibility issues with todays software. I did a little digging and found that is indeed possible to swap out a 5,2 Logic Board into the 4,1, which is supported all the way up to El Capitan. I went on eBay and found a pristine 5,2 for $60, and bought a new black battery for the 4,1.
The 5,2 comes in the mail and I test it, runs perfect besides the spinning drive. I dig right into the 5,2 and successfully remove the logic board and super drive. I then repeat the same procedure on the 4,1 (but much more carefully to try not to damage the case, in which I failed by chipping the keyboard palm rest since the machine was never opened before, very tight). The amount of dust in the 4,1 was unbelievable, which explains the loud fan noise under no to light load.
I cleaned out the dust from the 4,1, and dropped in the 5,2 logic board, applying new thermal paste as well. Testing the unit showed that it started right up, which was expected since both models have most of the same connections since they're both A1181 models. Although it went smoothly for me, there are a couple of things to consider when doing this build.
I didn't take any photos during the transplant as I was trying not to loose screws from the machine, but I did take a picture of the 5,2 before I fully disassembled for reference (attached) and I have a pic of the "About my Mac" on the Black MacBook after the mod running Mojave (also attracted).
Hopefully you guys found this useful, as it was a fun project for me and a pleasure to bring the information to you.
Cheers,
Jonathan
I thought I'd outline my isolation project incase anyone wanted to tackle the same thing I had done. The title says it all, it is a 2.13GHz MacBook 5,2 in a Black Case, running Mojave. Let me tell you the backstory before I get to the build outline.
For a long time, I have always loved the A1181 MacBooks in Black, and I had always wanted one even if I couldn't use it much. After we got the shelter in place in my state, I decided to spend $50 on an almost mint Black 2008 MacBook 4,1. It came in the mail the following week and it looked perfect (except for a bad OEM battery). I immediately changed out the spinning drive for a 256GB SSD, and dropped 4GB of DDR2 memory into it, as well as loading a fresh copy of Mac OS X Lion. The computer worked great and was pretty fast, but the drawbacks were that it was very loud under light load and had software compatibility issues with todays software. I did a little digging and found that is indeed possible to swap out a 5,2 Logic Board into the 4,1, which is supported all the way up to El Capitan. I went on eBay and found a pristine 5,2 for $60, and bought a new black battery for the 4,1.
The 5,2 comes in the mail and I test it, runs perfect besides the spinning drive. I dig right into the 5,2 and successfully remove the logic board and super drive. I then repeat the same procedure on the 4,1 (but much more carefully to try not to damage the case, in which I failed by chipping the keyboard palm rest since the machine was never opened before, very tight). The amount of dust in the 4,1 was unbelievable, which explains the loud fan noise under no to light load.
I cleaned out the dust from the 4,1, and dropped in the 5,2 logic board, applying new thermal paste as well. Testing the unit showed that it started right up, which was expected since both models have most of the same connections since they're both A1181 models. Although it went smoothly for me, there are a couple of things to consider when doing this build.
- The superdrive must stay with corresponding logic boards since the connections are different between 4,1 and 5,2
- Your ports will be white since the 5,2 only came in white. No big deal, just make sure to keep the black magsafe connection with the black case, works fine and looks good.
- Heatsink standoffs are not the same from 4,1 to 5,2, I believe only one of the holes actually screw in. I added a copper spacer to hold the heatsink down when the computer was shut to make sure it cools to spec.
- No CMOS battery Req'd after swap, so don't go crazy looking for a CMOS battery connection on the 5,2 logic board, you'll be there forever.
I didn't take any photos during the transplant as I was trying not to loose screws from the machine, but I did take a picture of the 5,2 before I fully disassembled for reference (attached) and I have a pic of the "About my Mac" on the Black MacBook after the mod running Mojave (also attracted).
Hopefully you guys found this useful, as it was a fun project for me and a pleasure to bring the information to you.
Cheers,
Jonathan
