mid-2007 -> mid-2009 MacBook

[128keaton]

Hello folks. I know its not a shiny, new retina, but at least I'm not here to complain about minor issues on my $1300 toy. Lets begin. I bought a Black MacBook for the purposes of this conversion from a fellow forum member, SkippyThorrsen. Its a mid 2007 in decent shape, it was missing a foot and had an aftermarket battery with a (glossy?!?!) finish.


Then, I traded a mid-2008 MBP (unibody) for a battered-to-hell mid-2009 MacBook that suffered the worst of the case cracking.

This was a great deal, since I'd need to swap most of the internal cables for the snap-ins VS the ZIF connectors on the 1,1/2,1 MBs

Lastly, I bought a $4, grade b bottom pan designed for an early 08 MacBook for optimal compatibility.

The teardown begins:

ODD Removed:

Removed extraneous mounting holes:

Comparing spaces:

Logic Board in:

And tamped down:

Successful boot :

Ish.


Well, I ended up breaking the inverter cable, and I forgot to repaste the CPU/GPU. When I take it apart again for the new cable, I'll use some new paste.

Thanks for reading!

Full album:
http://imgur.com/a/ZAcHN

Original Instructions:
https://www.thinkclassic.org/viewtopic.php?id=286

 

[adam9c1]

My brother had one of those black MacBooks.
I loved that look.

On my 2009 I ended up replacing the lcd frame only. Made a huge improvement imho the white surround was distracting.

Good job!

 

[128keaton]

My brother had one of those black MacBooks.
I loved that look.

On my 2009 I ended up replacing the lcd frame only. Made a huge improvement imho the white surround was distracting.

Good job!

I've wanted one for years. But by the time they got cheap enough, they weren't supported and were really lagging in regards to hardware

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Excellent deal Keaton! Glad that mid-09 MB worked out for you, you finally accomplished a project I've always wanted to do! Congrats

 

[thescotsman4]

Congratulations on the conversion! I used the same link to give a BlackBook new life as well. It runs great and serves as my video and music player. I have it dual booting Snow Leopard and El Capitan on a 120 GB SSD. It's a cool machine for sure.