Crazy Idea: Upgrade Macbook Air Display

So I had the random thought of the potential for upgrading the MBA mid 2013 11" display. It's a VERY long shot but I do have a model for my stock display, but I'm not super knowledgable in LCDs. I know it runs eDP 1 lane stock, would it be compatible with 2 lane or more? How do I know that? Here's what info I have on the stock display http://www.panelook.com/LP116WH4-TJA3_LG Display_11.6_CELL_overview_15172.html. I'm not necessarily sold on doing it, even if possible, just mostly curious if it IS possible. Open to any feedback on the caveats of it, or the process if it is possible.

 

Mac's are so completely useless when it comes to upgrades, or even repair. I do not expect you will get any reasonable responses here... BTW this comes from someone who has macs ranging from an SE/30 to a Hexa-core Mac Pro, including 3 Mac laptops in the house. IMHO Apple expressly designs obsolescence and difficult repairs/upgrades into their designs. Most Mac users are happy to pay insane $$ for essential the same x86 h/w that mainstream Windows laptops have, only to have a closed design. I've never understood it myself, but as I say, I have a lot of Apple stuff in the house. 100% of it is goodwill/Craigslist cast-off's that prior owners could not figure out how to repair. My worst repair was the screen on an Macbook G4 Titanium. Apple literally glued the bezel onto the LCD display in order to not have any screws on the display, what kind of design is that FFS?

 

It looks good design.

Also BGA.

 

Not crazy at all. I had the same idea, but after reparing the iPad Mini retina I don't think I want to try something like that
On any other laptop it would no be difficult at all, just sourcing the right panel will be the issue. But with Apple, they put up 100000 roadblocks to keep stuff like this from happening.

Still, an FHD macbook would be a nice bang/buck device... currently the bang/buck is terrible imo.

 

Which makes the idea crazy. So yeah, it is crazy and near impossible. I'm not saying that it is flat-out impossible, but this is why it is crazy - you'll be pushing yourself (A LOT of stuff to go wrong), your nerves (A LOT of stuff WOULD go wrong), your research skills (proprietary connectors and placements), your handcraft skills (you have to be +1 over your regular repair guy) and your budget (I heard Apple stuff are EXPENSIVE) to the limit. So again, it is crazy, not impossible, but crazy. I've said crazy quite a few times already, but for a good measure, I'll say it again - IT IS CRAZY. If you however are still inclined to try it out - best of luck ("Here's to the crazy ones" as a famous guy once said (guess who ))!

 

It depends on whether they also sold fhd+ or retina versions of the 11.x". If not then it is unlikely they have activated the additional lane on the mb. You could check once you have access to the lcd cable, can tally the wires and measure the pins with a multimeter. Now, on the off-chance that it is active then you likely still need to source a 2-lane cable or diy one (this involves precise soldering skills).

Of course, anything is possible, provided it doesn't violate any laws of physics. Other than that; the bezel and lcd on this model are glued to the lid, so removing them in tact requires a hot air gun. Without is possible too, but it'll flex and bend, even the lcd, so they would look rather shabby afterwards.

As for 'crazy'; have a DC 2 + decoder board that I plan to get working on a Haswell system. There's no technological impossibilities anywhere, except for having to diy the cable and modding the display lid. Stuffing the decoder board somewhere may proof to be the hardest part.

 

I'd guess the FHD version, since the WUXGA would leave some empty space, which can be used for speakers for example. That was the idea I had - converting 8770w to WUXGA DC, but left it since ThrottleStop doesn't work for Ivy. Anyway, you should be able to get it running as non-PnP display, getting it fully working (installing the Mobile Display Assistant) would be some hassle. Best of luck!

 

Errr ... it needs a software tool to work as intended ? Too bad, but it should be possible to fool the installer and make it run on any system. The procedure is terrible though, so not looking forward to that.

And think it's a wuxga actually, but haven't gotten around to disassembling it yet.

 

Yes. It would still be wide-gamut IPS, but no color space selection and I haven't checked on a fresh install but I think that there's no refresh rate selection as well. With DreamColors you can choose between 48Hz, 50Hz and 60Hz for smooth video playback.

That's why I said that it would be quite the hassle.

If the bezel says 8740w, it is WUXGA (16:10 FTW ), anything else is FHD (excluding the 8730w, but it doesn't have ColorBoard and is 8bit TN, still very nice and stock for stock has better whites than the DC IPSes).

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge, you might also make a separate topic.

 

Thanks, much appreciated . Will drop a line in one of your threads when I get around to this project.