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

blackbook without a screen? (pics+new Q)

MattyK

MattyK

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 7, 2008
838
1
Australia (Yes I DO ride my kangaroo down the stre
hey guys, it's been a while since i've posted on this website.
But back to the point, early this year, I purchased a screenless blackbook 2.16GHz, 2gb RAM, 160gb hard drive and a superdrive for only $100(aus).

Now i've just been using a BenQ 19" FP9lV+ screen for that period of time with a mini DVI to VGA adapter. So the time has come for me to purchase the upper half of my macbook. Yes all my macbook is right now, is a keyboard with a cd rom. Cool, huh?

But if any of you have any idea where i could purchase the actual top half of the macbook with wiring, wireless, the screen itself and the hinges it would be greatly appreciated. :)

EDIT: I now have another query, now that you're all familiar to the headless macbook. It's the actual OSX, when I do f8 (fast key for spaces) It still shows 2 screens, I'll attach an image. I tried to take the macbook apart and turn the hinges to make the macbook think it's closed, but is there any way in the OSX which I could disable it. Mirror doesn't work, so I'm in quite the pickle.
Thanks in advance.

p.s Incase anyone was wondering how the top half broke; the guy I bought it from left the screen up, and his cat, being a typical cat thought it was a threat, so it jumped on it, breaking it off its hinges, so he removed the screen and threw it in the trash, along with the airport antennae ._.
 

Attachments

  • Picture 1.png
    Picture 1.png
    341.3 KB · Views: 148
  • Picture 3.png
    Picture 3.png
    83.7 KB · Views: 116
eBay is your best bet here though I suspect you are going to have to ship it into Australia......
 
Yes - I know exactly what you are looking for - the problem is that the individual parts in the top (that are not the lcd screen) - the lcd cover, the display bezel, the metal frame, the isight camera, the inverter and the inverter cover add up to probably more than the cost of the lcd screen.....

The complete assembly can be found on eBay.co.uk from time to time but you might be better looking for a cheap Blackbook with a damaged logicboard as a donor machine...
 
logana said:
Yes - I know exactly what you are looking for - the problem is that the individual parts in the top (that are not the lcd screen) - the lcd cover, the display bezel, the metal frame, the isight camera, the inverter and the inverter cover add up to probably more than the cost of the lcd screen.....

The complete assembly can be found on eBay.co.uk from time to time but you might be better looking for a cheap Blackbook with a damaged logicboard as a donor machine...
Click to expand...

ah I'll give UK a shot.
I'm guessing the whole thing will cost around $400-$700 aud.
I was thinking if I should just buy a whole macbook with damaged CPU and such, which the owner thinks is broken, but I could use for parts for a few hundred bucks.
I'll look into that right now and post anything I find. :D

I searched ebay.co.uk, this is all I could find, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/macbook-13-3-...301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318#ebayphotohosting - it's a white macbook 13.3 which has no specific information, only alot of advertisement for some computer repair shop.. Not sure if it's legit. But it sums out to be only $388AUD
 
The whole toplid assembly normally sells for around £100-110 (AU$250) - a new lcd here is around £90.

The link to eBay.co.uk is for a shop to replace the lcd panel in a MacBook so that is no help to you...

You can easily get liquid damaged MacBooks in the UK for around £200-250 with good lcd's. If you buy a recent one then you will get a whole load of parts which you can probably sell to recover some of your investment (RAM, hard disc, optical drive, battery etc)
 
Photos

apologies of the pink desk, my other study desk broke, so this is all we had, my sisters old one :p
oh and the gameboy, i was playing tetris earlier.
p.s sorry about the bad quality, again.
 

Attachments

  • Photo 84.jpg
    Photo 84.jpg
    72.7 KB · Views: 78
  • Photo 88.jpg
    Photo 88.jpg
    74.8 KB · Views: 75
  • Photo 85.jpg
    Photo 85.jpg
    59.9 KB · Views: 68
  • Photo 86.jpg
    Photo 86.jpg
    70.6 KB · Views: 77
  • Photo 87.jpg
    Photo 87.jpg
    74.3 KB · Views: 94
If you want to keep it as a "desktop", you can do one of the following:

1) Put a small magnet over the "lid closed" detector. It's on the left side of the case, about 1/3 or so up from the front.
2) Possible, not tested: Take off the top case (follow iFixit.com) and remove the display connector from the motherboard. It should just see this like a removed LCD, and detect only the attached one. (edited later: if that was the case, it should detect it as missing now... hmmmm maybe it detects the cable?)

I am seriously thinking of removing the entire LCD lid assembly on the one that I have working as a desktop. It's already cracked, and if I decide to repair the LCD I can simply reconnect it later.

Note that the entire top assembly can be removed as a unit, but the later MBs have a different inverter connector. However, the inverter is connected to the LCD via a connector that IS the same across all units. So if you get an entire LCD assembly, you will either need to get the right unit for your model, OR get the right invertor for your model to transition it from your model to the LCD assembly.

I used a late model SR LCD assembly on an early Core Duo (Macbook 1,1) base unit by transitioning it in this fashion.
 
bplein said:
If you want to keep it as a "desktop", you can do one of the following:

1) Put a small magnet over the "lid closed" detector. It's on the left side of the case, about 1/3 or so up from the front.
2) Possible, not tested: Take off the top case (follow iFixit.com) and remove the display connector from the motherboard. It should just see this like a removed LCD, and detect only the attached one. (edited later: if that was the case, it should detect it as missing now... hmmmm maybe it detects the cable?)

I am seriously thinking of removing the entire LCD lid assembly on the one that I have working as a desktop. It's already cracked, and if I decide to repair the LCD I can simply reconnect it later.

Note that the entire top assembly can be removed as a unit, but the later MBs have a different inverter connector. However, the inverter is connected to the LCD via a connector that IS the same across all units. So if you get an entire LCD assembly, you will either need to get the right unit for your model, OR get the right invertor for your model to transition it from your model to the LCD assembly.

I used a late model SR LCD assembly on an early Core Duo (Macbook 1,1) base unit by transitioning it in this fashion.
Click to expand...

I couldn't find the 'lid closed' detector, an edit in one of my photos outlining where it would be would be awesome, if anyone could help out.
 
MattyK said:
I couldn't find the 'lid closed' detector, an edit in one of my photos outlining where it would be would be awesome, if anyone could help out.
Click to expand...

It is about 1cm in from the edge of the keyboard on a line midway between the headphone jack and the kensington lock hole.

If you get a small magnet it will be drawn to the area and you should see the sleep light led change when it is in the right position.

The sleep switch is a kind of reed switch built into the battery connector (very high tech !)
 
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