The RIGHT logic board

Comments

• John

  February 2012

  Hi! Unfortunately it's not possible to go to 2.4GHZ with the machine you have. The only Energy Star 2.16GHZ T7400 board is the 820-2213-A class of boards, which is incompatible with the form factor of the 820-2279-A board, one of which is the 2.4GHZ version. The board you have is the most powerful board that will fit in your computer's case. To be sure you have an 820-2213-A (which you must, considering the specs you gave), pop out the right memory module with the topcase off and see what model number is printed on the board under the memory.
  
  At first glance it might look like a 2.4GHZ will go in your case, but you'll find that screw locations are different, not to mention some of the connectors will be different. Also, click on the "Tuturials" link at the top, and then watch my "MacBook A1181 Logic Board Overview" video, and that will give you a comprehensive look at what boards go into which cases and why.
• abcellars

  February 2012 edited February 2012

  I am not familiar with your board and don't have one sitting here. It is possible if you change the bottom case. You may have to change a few other parts too. The 2.4GHz uses a 3 wall backlight/inverter connecter. If the one on your board is a 4 wall, you will need to change the inverter cable. The 2.4GHz has a single Temp sensor cable coming off the heatsink. If yours has the 2 cable version and/or the mounting holes don't align, you will need to change the heatsink also. Everything else interchanges between the different versions of the 2006 - 2008 A1181. See John's video on the A1181 Motherboard overview.
• John

  February 2012

  Hi Brett! You're right, it can technically be done, but I was going with the assumption that he'd want to stay with the same model computer he has, whereas to get an 820-2279-A into his machine he'd basically have to transform his computer into a totally different model, as well as spend a few hours gutting and re-building the machine. In addition to the bottom case, he would have to switch out the inverter cable, both speakers, bluetooth, and the fan/heatsync module, because the 820-2213-A is all 4-wall, whereas the 820-2279-A is all 3-wall. All that plus the lower casing would probably cost more than $100 bought in pieces, at which point buying a dead 2.4GHZ parts machine on eBay as a starting point would probably be a better option. So it's possible, but it's not something I'd recommend, unless he's like us and enjoys geeking out on such things. :-)
• abcellars

  February 2012

  I learned something from you today John, not mentioned in your video. To date I've purchased all my A1181 case bottoms with defective motherboards and the speakers etc... still present. It seems that once many people remove the LCD, along with it's wires and the drives, they call it gutted enough to sell. Maybe I've just got lucky on my purchases.
• John

  February 2012

  Thanks!
  
  It's frustrating that Apple makes it so difficult. What I've found is that there are only three A1181 board identifiers that mean anything at all in terms of connectors, form factor, etc. -- 820-1889-A, 820-2213-A, and 820-2279-A. (Actually, there is a 4th A1181 board, but I've never managed to find one, which makes me think it's pretty rare, and I tend to omit mention of it.) There may be a chart somewhere on planet Earth that shows which model number board "Mid 2007" MacBooks have, or which board "661-4484" uses (the number AnR193 referenced above), but I've never seen it, and Apple doesn't seem to have an interest in making it available. It's really a disservice to Apple's customers, because when they need a replacement board, they understandably have absolutely no idea what is the correct and meaningful way to refer to the specific machine they have. Even with the serial number it's tricky to figure out the type of board. Fortunately, as you mentioned, luck wins out most of the time, and the connectors and bottom case are usually correct, just by chance. But not always, and I feel sorry for the 1.83GHZ MacBook owner who naively buys a 2.4GHZ board, because he's in for a pretty bad day.