Does a 2011 Unibody logic board fit inside a 2009 Unibody?
Hi,
Have a MacBook Pro 17 Unibody mid 2009 that won’t turn on, and I expect that is something wrong with the logic board.
If i’m going to change the logic board I might upgrade to a newer logic bord, and then is my question
Does a 2011 Unibody logic board fit inside a 2009 Unibody?
Is this a good question?
5 Comments
Hi, I have the opposite problem. I have a pristine looking 17 Unibody MacBook Pro early 2011 which doesn't work, it has the graphics card glitch. However I can get a cheap 2009 one which works but the case is battered. Would the bits of a 2009 fit into a 2011 please? Is the screen connector the same?
by David Foster
@fozziebear39 - Yes, you can swap out your 2011 board with the older 2009 but you could encounter issues with your SATA drives as the 2011 offers SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) ports but the 2009 only offers SATA II (3.0 Gb/s). So depending on the drives (check there spec sheet) they will likely not work properly! The spec sheet has to clearly say SATA II connections are supported. As an example the Samsung 870 EVO is an auto sense drive which works across all three I/O speeds. Note the interface lines clearly states it! "SATA 6 Gb/s Interface, compatible with SATA 3 Gb/s & 1.5 interfaces" Make sure your drives are compatible. The standard was written so older drives would work in newer faster systems, not the other way unless the drive was designed to be backward compatible! Many todays drives are fixed speed SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) which won't work properly in an older system. The demand for auto sense drives has waned and to cut costs the circuitry has been removed in many drives. A good example is the Seagate FireCuda 3.5" HDD drives which had it years ago no longer does in its current generation Seagate BarraCuda 3.5" HDD
by Dan
Thank you so much Dan, great news. I don't mind the slower speeds of the 2009 for my needs with this machine. The Unibody of the 2011 is like new, I'll happily strip out the board of the 2009 and put it into the 2011. So trackpad, keyboard, battery, screen of the 2011 will just plug into the 2009 board?
by David Foster
@fozziebear39 - You will need to transfer your battery (likely need a new one) and trackpad over the keyboard is the same. The screen its self is compatible (either version) but the LVDS cable will need to be altered a bit. Thats all from memory as its been quite a few years since I've worked on one of these and I wasn't doing what you are attempting. So you might find a few hiccups along the way.
The best thing is to compare the parts and if you can locate the Apple service guides for the systems to help you through.
Are you really sure you want to do this? Keep in mind your OS will be limited to El Capitan (10.11.x) and the RAM is also limited to 8GB.
by Dan
@danj Thank you for your insight. I'll have a go, they were relatively cheap off eB ay. Compared to the money I have spent with Apple since 1985 this is peanuts. I have a 2020 Mac mini, but this project is to run Snow Leopard which I have an old iMac to do that at the moment. Cheers
by David Foster