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Macbook: Swapping black case for white

A

angelodmhl

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
44
0
Greece
Up until a week ago i was the happy owner of a first gen, 1.83 GHz white Macbook. Having to work with photoshop*, final cut express, iMovie and downloading lots of torrents, i found the 60 Gig hard drive, and the Core (1) Duo processor constrictive. So a week ago i brought the new black Macbook (2.16 GHz, 1 gig of ram.).

So, basically my problem is this: (Black) + (Post-2000 Apple hardware) = (meh,,,)**.

Firstly, If HP and Lenovo had a bas***d child, it would look like the Blackbook. To me it looks THAT ugly. Secondly, it is a magnet for fingerprints, THAT REFUSE TO COME OFF :(, and i only have it for a week!

Problem is that at the store (and at the promo pictures), it looked really sexy, just like a next Pismo would look ;). But now i really hate it's looks with a passion.
For many reasons i cannot return it now. So what i am looking for is a way to place the blackbook's motherboard, super drive and hard disk into my old whitebook case, and vice versa. Is it possible? Has anyone here done this before? Am I just crazy to consider it?

I don't have any problems "operating" on my machines (i could replace the HD from my G4 ibook without problems, and that says A LOT). Of course, i know that my warranty will go down the ***** hole if i do this, but i am not really concerned about warranties (long story).

So, long story short, i LOVE the white case, and want the black Macbook's HD, MB and SD in it.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for my bad English, i'm Greek.
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*I have the PPC version of CS2 and i REFUSE to spend so much money ever again on a piece of software. I can work just fine with Rosetta's translation.

** White is like apple's identity card. Only when it comes to apple machines i am picky about the colors.
 
As long as you don't mess something up, which I guarantee you probably will (pulling out the mobo is a bad idea, it's got a lot of hook ups and stuff to screw up). You can as long as you don't hurt it. It's a foolish thing to do, but if you can, you can. Go for it, just be careful, it's like putting all your insides inside another skin... riské.
 
From what I heard, the C2D and CD use motherboards that are slightly different meaning the placement of the components are shifted.

If this is the case, you can't simply swap out the components from one case to the other.

Btw to get the oil off and to prevent oil marks, follow the following steps:

1) Always wash your hands with soap before touching.
2) Put on a palm wrest protector and definitely get an iSkin for the keyboard.
3) Don't let anyone.. and I mean anyone touch your Macbook unless they've washed their hands.
4) When you notice oil marks, get some 99% isopropyl alcohol, put it on a tissue and proceed to remove the oil marks.

By following these anal guidelines, I was able to keep my Black Macbook looking almost brand new. It is a pain in the ass though....
 
The below are steps that work. I know people who carry alcohol handiwipes (sp?) just to clean their BlackBooks. It is extra work, but I think changing the whole form factor is rather extreme. Why not just Craigslist it and buy a new WhiteBook.

DaLurker said:
1) Always wash your hands with soap before touching.
2) Put on a palm wrest protector and definitely get an iSkin for the keyboard.
3) Don't let anyone.. and I mean anyone touch your Macbook unless they've washed their hands.
4) When you notice oil marks, get some 99% isopropyl alcohol, put it on a tissue and proceed to remove the oil marks.

By following these anal guidelines, I was able to keep my Black Macbook looking almost brand new. It is a pain in the ass though....
Click to expand...
 
If you put guards on the wrist wrest and the track pad the only fingerprints or marks you are going to get are on the keys and thats easy enough to take off with out cleaners. Mines filthy and i just dont care. It gets a cleaning every 2 weeks or so just like the car. As for swapping the guts good luck and i pitty you and your (bas**rd) blackbook.
 
are you kidding? you would do all that just because of the color? that is insanity!!
 
I feel your pain here...

Apple can make awesome hardware, but sometimes I just ask myself: who has designed this crap?
What is it with fingerprintable materials?
Why could not they use Pismo-like plastic on the Blackbooks? It was not nearly as fingerprintable than the current enclosure. Most Blackbooks I have seen look quite... Sad. Same thing with shiny metal iPods. Same thing with glossy MB screens. Touch it once and you got yourself a really ugly and visible smear.:mad:
I really like MacBooks because of size, easily accessible hard drive, and price. But I ended up buying a MacBook Pro because MBs only come with glossy screen, blackbook is a fingerprint magnet, and whitebook is a scratch magnet...
 
valiar said:
I really like MacBooks because of size, easily accessible hard drive, and price. But I ended up buying a MacBook Pro because MBs only come with glossy screen, blackbook is a fingerprint magnet, and whitebook is a scratch magnet...
Click to expand...
Funny, I'm in the same boat. Well, almost. I want to buy a Macbook, but I don't want a glossy screen or a fingerprint magnet or a scratch magnet. I may be forced to buy a MBP, even though I really don't need one.

I wish they had a 13.3" Macbook Pro. That would work nicely for me. :)
 
I don't know why you are all concerned about small little scratches and measly fingerprints. No passerby is going to notice let-alone care, and all these things happen to everyone's computer no matter what we do. We might as well get use out of them instead of being finnicky about little things. I just wanna enjoy my stuff, and i will do things to keep my stuff looking nice but I'm not going to go out of my way to keep it out-of-the-box new. :D
 
Sounds Good said:
Funny, I'm in the same boat. Well, almost. I want to buy a Macbook, but I don't want a glossy screen or a fingerprint magnet or a scratch magnet. I may be forced to buy a MBP, even though I really don't need one.

I wish they had a 13.3" Macbook Pro. That would work nicely for me. :)
Click to expand...

Look for a used 2.16 C2D MBP Matte, they run from $800-$1200 depending on the condition. No glossy, no fingerprints and no nVidia!.

Cheers,
 
You could just by one of those protective covers or elasticated skins. They don't look as nice, but they solve your problem. Plus there's no risk. You can find them easily on eBay under 'MacBook Skin'.

Like most of the other replies, I wouldn't risk my MacBook for that.

Sorry if that sounded a little 'too obvious', otherwise I hope it helps.
 
I wish they had a 13.3" Macbook Pro. That would work nicely for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, apparently Apple didn't think that there was a market for one, despite the fact the 12" PBG4 was extremely popular. I'd love to have something in that same form factor with Intel power and discrete graphics...
 
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