Contribute
Register

What parts can I salvage from a MacBook Pro

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
161
Motherboard
Hack Pro
CPU
Core i7 2600k
Graphics
GT 240
Mac
  1. 0
Classic Mac
  1. 0
Mobile Phone
  1. 0
I think one of my coworkers is giving me a MacBook pro that is water damaged to play with. I am going to harvest the Bluetooth and Wifi cards, and I may try to turn the Keyboard and TrackPad in to usb parts. What else is in there that could be used on my hackintosh?
 
So I'm thinking I wire up the trackpad and keyboard and maybe even the dvd and speakers to a usb hub in the case and have this be a all in one keyboard mouse thing. I feel sorry for the guys mom who had the thing for a year and dumped coffee on it so I am going to give her $200 for it just to tinker with it. So new project coming soon.
 
The IR receiver, which is a USB device.
The camera, although reusing that would be a challenge.
The optical drive, perhaps, but reusing that could also be difficult.
 
ptmays said:
So I'm thinking I wire up the trackpad and keyboard and maybe even the dvd and speakers to a usb hub in the case and have this be a all in one keyboard mouse thing…

any luck with the keyboard/trackpad?
what parts were you able to use?

I know these parts can be made to work: IR remote sensor, bluetooth module, airport card, built-in camera

I hope that the keyboard and trackpad works because I just got one white macbook top case.

DVD is standard sata in most macbooks/pros (to my knowledge)

There are fancy cabling inside those machines so soldering skills come handy.
 
What macbook pro is it. Could be worth repairing it. The other parts may be damaged too because of the water. Commonly the disk drive. And as mentioned above, reworking the track pad and keyboard may be etremely difficult and almost not worth it.

Gus
 
Gus said:
And as mentioned above, reworking the track pad and keyboard may be etremely difficult and almost not worth it.

Do you mean that there is another topic about it?

There is a pretty complex circuitry inside the touchpad and I hope the wires are usb.
I work as an Apple repair technician so I'll test it tomorrow.
 
I don't know of anyone who has managed to get the keyboard/trackpad into usb. I think this is mainly because, keyboards have some sort of controller chip to determine all the key strokes and as far as I know the macbooks don't have those on them, but on the logicboard or possible in the software. Plus tiny connectors, hard soldering!

Have you looked into getting a replacement logic board. Why rip it apart if you could fix it?
Repair and sell then buy airport and bluetooth boards.

Gus
 
I'd rather not put my camera behind the monitor bezel.
That way I wouldn't be able to move it around.
That is exactly the problem I had with MacBook cameras in most situations.
It's best on top, detachable. At least for me.

As I checked in my MacBook
- Bluetooth module
- IR receiver
- iSight
– Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
are all connecting through USB and I know now that all works.

I know of IR sensors that has the logic on the main logic board and makes it impossible to use.

Wireless cards work using a converter.

Displays have LVDS connection that is to my knowledge exclusively found in laptops so renders them unusable for my purpose.
 
Hi Guys

So I guess I never came back and gave an update after I got the laptop, so long story short I am posting this with it. Its a Mid 2009 15" Macbook Pro 2.56 C2D

When I got it, it turned out to not be in that bad shape as I thought. It would power on and I could run it on an external display I could even see the screen working with a flash light, so I opened it up and could see where the coffee had gotten in to it I cleaned that with hight % rubbing alcohol took the screen cable loose and could see burnt pins on the cable and the socket. I can only assume the the back light inverter shorted out when the coffee was spilt. I looked around online and found a company on ebay that could replace surface mount components on the logic board and the backlight inverter for $259, so 2 weeks later I had a good as new 2 year old $1700 laptop for right at $500, and I love the thing. I dont think I could go back to a 13" screen now.

I also did some testing and it looks like the Glass track pads and unibody keyboards are USB but I could not find any solder points on them, however the link that you posted with the 4 solder points do work on the white MB keyboard and track pads I have one of those to that I picked up for $30 on ebay.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top