Resolved Swapping Displays on MacBook Air 7,2

[mslilyelise]

A couple months ago my MBA took a tumble and landed screen down on some objects that weren't exactly soft, smashing the display in the process. A friend gave me a MBP from 2014 so I could get through my class work in September/October, but now I have time to patch up the MBA if possible.

I came across a machine that could be a great donor for it. It's a MBA 6,2, from Early 2014. It has a newish battery with 175 cycles on it, where as my battery was toast, and it has a display I could poach for the 7,2.

My question is what parts interchange between these units? Is the display assembly the same, so I can put the 6,2 screen on the 7,2 frame? What about the battery and SSD from the 6,2; with they work on the 7,2? I'd like to save this unit if I can, being that last gasp model from the pre-retina Airs, and use it or pass it on to someone, but that depends if this donor is any good (and I can get it for a reasonable price).

Thanks for the help as always.

 

[velocityg4]

Mid 2013 through 2017 used the same display assembly. Same thing with the battery . The battery actually fits a few more models. The SSD fits a large range of models and years. As far as I'm aware all parts from 2013 to 2017 are interchangeable. It'll be quicker and easier to swap the 2015 logic board into the 2014 case.

 

[mslilyelise]

Mid 2013 through 2017 used the same display assembly. Same thing with the battery . The battery actually fits a few more models. The SSD fits a large range of models and years. As far as I'm aware all parts from 2013 to 2017 are interchangeable. It'll be quicker and easier to swap the 2015 logic board into the 2014 case.

If that's doable then absolutely! I wasn't sure if there would be case differences between releases, or if there was any way for the logic board to tell it had ben swapped into a different case. Both my broken unit and the potential donor have 128GB drives but my Mid 2014 MBP has a 256GB drive and if they use the same slot (I know it's not standard PCIe) I might swap that over too. Depends which machine I decide to keep.

The MBP has been working as a daily but it does seem quite a bit slower than the 2017 Air did, and I'm not sure why that is. Processor is newer, sure, but it's clocked lower than the MBP. I'm pushing both units by running them on Sequoia but I'd expected the MBP to be snappier.

Just waiting on some tools to arrive and then it's time to tear everything apart.

 

[velocityg4]

If that's doable then absolutely! I wasn't sure if there would be case differences between releases, or if there was any way for the logic board to tell it had ben swapped into a different case. Both my broken unit and the potential donor have 128GB drives but my Mid 2014 MBP has a 256GB drive and if they use the same slot (I know it's not standard PCIe) I might swap that over too. Depends which machine I decide to keep.

The MBP has been working as a daily but it does seem quite a bit slower than the 2017 Air did, and I'm not sure why that is. Processor is newer, sure, but it's clocked lower than the MBP. I'm pushing both units by running them on Sequoia but I'd expected the MBP to be snappier.

Just waiting on some tools to arrive and then it's time to tear everything apart.

The SSD should move over.

Their turbo boost speeds are nearly identical. Broadway is 14nm and runs cooler. It can likely sustain turbo boost better. Broadwell has slightly better performance per gigahertz, better memory bandwidth and better integrated graphics. Overall they should be similar performance. Each has some small strengths and weaknesses. Still, I’d take retina over non Retina display.

If both installs are identical. I’d expect similar overall performance.

 

[mslilyelise]

The SSD should move over.

Their turbo boost speeds are nearly identical. Broadway is 14nm and runs cooler. It can likely sustain turbo boost better. Broadwell has slightly better performance per gigahertz, better memory bandwidth and better integrated graphics. Overall they should be similar performance. Each has some small strengths and weaknesses. Still, I’d take retina over non Retina display.

If both installs are identical. I’d expect similar overall performance.

Good to know. My working theory is thermal throttling? The MBP is missing three feet and I doubt it’s been opened since the date on the battery and the Apple SSD would indicate it’s all original. Once my tools get here I’ll clean out the fan, radiator, reapply the thermal paste, and replace the feet. That may make a difference, it may make none, but it doesn’t cost much to try.

I agree the retina screen is a lot nicer.

 

[velocityg4]

Good to know. My working theory is thermal throttling? The MBP is missing three feet and I doubt it’s been opened since the date on the battery and the Apple SSD would indicate it’s all original. Once my tools get here I’ll clean out the fan, radiator, reapply the thermal paste, and replace the feet. That may make a difference, it may make none, but it doesn’t cost much to try.

I agree the retina screen is a lot nicer.

Did you clean install the OS?

 

[mslilyelise]

Did you clean install the OS?

Sure did. I never use the OS installed on a system I buy from a third party. Fresh install of Sequoia via OCLP. Granted that could be part of my issue, but my iMac isn’t experiencing anything like that and it’s the super cheap hobbled 1.4Ghz model from 2014 and it’s running the same patched OS, same version. It is odd.

 

[mslilyelise]

Thanks everyone for confirming I could swap the parts from one machine to the other.

I was going to pick up a 2015 MBA for a transplant but couldn't find one cheap enough with a battery that wasn't toast and a body that wasn't damaged in other ways.

I never did figure out what was wrong with the Pro. I cracked it open, blew out the dust, reapplied the thermal paste, and saw a net zero benefit in thermal behaviour. It was also acting really sluggish, even being slow to respond to typing inputs in Pages, etc. Well two days ago it went pop-fizzle and died in the middle of a YouTube video, and I couldn't get it back to life in any way. Something was clearly wrong with it to have been running so hot and been so sluggish, but I'll never know what that was now.

I ended up trading that machine and my Air with the smashed screen to a refurbisher and got another 7,2, which I swapped my 250GB SSD into that came out of the Pro. Paid $50 in the end, and this machine is very clean. It's got 500 cycles on the OEM battery and is working quite well, unlike the last Air which had an aftermarket battery in it that was fried. Also curious to note, CoconutBattery reports the manufacture date for this machine as March 2019, which I'm kind of shocked at, I didn't think these machines stayed in production that long, and had been replaced by the retina Airs by that point. So this must be the last of the line, really.

Again, thanks of the help.

 

[jay508]

Modified and upgraded 16G RAM, NVME 1TB SSD

 

[mslilyelise]

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Modified and upgraded 16G RAM, NVME 1TB SSD

Ooh that looks great, did you have to find a 16GB logic board to do this upgrade or did you modify it? The speeds for the SSD are pretty astounding, I clocked the stock Apple SSD 250GB that I swapped into my MBA at 300MB ish read and write in BlackMagic, so tossing a Sintech adapter and a 1TB SSD in here would be a substantial input/output speed boost.