Running MacBook Unibody 6,1 without battery

[raptor402]

Hello, forum

My old Late 2009 Unibody MacBook suffered some water (coke) damage at the hands of my brother a couple of years ago. After a lot of troubleshooting, it ended up with a busted keyboard. A few days ago, I finally decided to put it to use, hoping to convert it into a mini desktop without the battery, screen or keyboard. It was all going well until I read yesterday that MacBook power adapter do not provide full power, and so when running without a battery, MacBooks are heavily under-clocked. The last reference to the article I could find was way back in 2008, before the introduction of non-removable batteries, and the apple page no longer exists.

My question is: will my MacBook 6,1 be under-clocked and perform badly should I run it without a battery?

Any help will be appreciated. I'll upload a link to pics once I'm done with the project regardless.

Regards
Raptor

 

[seveej]

My question is: will my MacBook 6,1 be under-clocked and perform badly should I run it without a battery?

Greetings,

I have no experience with that specific model, but I have had experiences with the previous generation (5,1 @ 2,4 Ghz) both using a totally busted battery and later without said battery, and my experience was that no slowdown was noticeable (using 60 W charger).

My mother's been using a 2006 MBP without battery for some years (that machine "killed" every battery which was put into it) and has experienced no slowdown (85 W charger).

I'd suggest you try it out, but make sure that your charger's either a 60 pr 85 W model.

RGDS,

 

[raptor402]

Greetings,

I have no experience with that specific model, but I have had experiences with the previous generation (5,1 @ 2,4 Ghz) both using a totally busted battery and later without said battery, and my experience was that no slowdown was noticeable (using 60 W charger).

My mother's been using a 2006 MBP without battery for some years (that machine "killed" every battery which was put into it) and has experienced no slowdown (85 W charger).

I'd suggest you try it out, but make sure that your charger's either a 60 pr 85 W model.

RGDS,

Thanks for your response, sir. I have a 85W adapter (patch job of two broken adapters), so I guess I shouldn't have much of a problem.

 

[raptor402]

Well, it boots fine and seems to be working alright.

 

[seveej]

Well, it boots fine and seems to be working alright.

Looks cool...

RGDS,

 

[seveej]

raptor402.

Your pics got me thinking:

What is the thermal behavior of you MacBook, such as it was in the pic. Does it run hotter or cooler than within the case?

RGDS,

 

[raptor402]

raptor402.

Your pics got me thinking:

What is the thermal behavior of you MacBook, such as it was in the pic. Does it run rotter or cooler than within the case?

RGDS,

Actually, I've been wondering the same thing. It was just a quick boot test, so I wasn't able to log heat, etc. I plan to put in a homemade wooden chassis, so heat is a concern. But I suppose it shouldn't be too bad. I'll let you know once I've completed the project.

Regards
Raptor

 

[seveej]

Actually, I've been wondering the same thing. It was just a quick boot test, so I wasn't able to log heat, etc. I plan to put in a homemade wooden chassis, so heat is a concern. But I suppose it shouldn't be too bad. I'll let you know once I've completed the project.

Allright!
Sounds interesting. Keep me posted.

Keep in mind, that when you do a wooden chassis, you should add some EM-shielding...

RGDS,

 

[raptor402]

Keep in mind, that when you do a wooden chassis, you should add some EM-shielding...

Thank you for pointing that out, sir. I really hadn't thought about it. I guess the easiest way to go about that would be to use ESD bags from 3.5" hdd. Considering the logic board size, I'll need two. I'll seal them together and make sealed incisions for screws and cables (I'm mounting the board on the original board tray pried from the chassis).

Once again, thank you.

Regards
Raptor

 

[seveej]

I once did a project like this. Almost...

This was waaay back, because I was transferring stuff I had in a pre-ATX case, and one of my main ideas was to dampen the noise level of the machine... Anyway, the case was ready, but then my Mobo took some damage and my next PC was ATX- based and the entire hardwood case was a lost cause.

Anyway, I remember having talked it over back then with an engineer, whose recommendation was to take aluminium foil (the thicker variant), and attach it to the inside of the wooden case ...

HTH,