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The April 2014 update of the 11" MacBook Air packs refreshed dual-core i5 and i7 Haswell processors and slightly increased battery performance.

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Operate MacBook Air 11 without screen (ie. transform into 'barebone')

Hi,

I've got a MacBook Air with a broken screen (backlight layers dirty/broken) but mainly use it on an external monitor anyway.

It seems any screen repairs will be hardly worth the effort and cost, I would need a new screen unit - the layers alone are hard to get and repair.

Therefore I had the idea of just running the MacBook without the screen. I saw a guy on YouTube who had modified a notebook like this, basically running it as a keyboard with in built computer.

Question is: how would I best go about removing the lid (screen assembly) permanently ? The wifi antenna and camera are also in the screen unit, if I am informed right. I could live without the camera but do need the wifi antenna. I wonder would I be able to run the unit with the antenna stuffed into the base and how to best extract it from the screen assembly.

Any hints appreciated.

----- Edit --- Thanks for all the tips, here is a summary :

It works. Fantastic result - I now have an Intel core i5 barebone PC with excellent chiclet keyboard and the best touchpad there could be.

If anyone is planning on doing this as well:

- You can attach the monitor via Mini Display Port or Thunderbolt output (or with an adapter via those ports). It runs without any problems, full boot up and everything is just displayed on it - the Mac behaves like it never had the built-in screen

- Do a complete teardown and remove the screen

- Be very careful opening the screen and remove the iSight camera from the screen unit

- Unscrew the hinges and plastic bar from the screen

- re-assemble without screen unit, just hinges and the plastic bar

- you will need to leave the display connector and the iSight camera "dangling out" at the back, for all the rest you would not notice the thing actually had a screen

All the best -

L

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Guys,

I managed to do it. Fantastic result - I now have an Intel core i5 barebone PC with excellent chiclet keyboard and the best touchpad there could be.

If anyone is planning on doing this as well with a broken screen mac:

- Do a complete teardown and remove the screen

- Be very careful opening the screen and remove the iSight camera from the screen unit

- Unscrew the hinges and plastic bar from the screen

- re-assemble without screen unit, just hinges and the plastic bar

- you will need to leave the display connector and the iSight camera "dangling out" at the back, for all the rest you would not notice the thing actually had a screen

Works great. Now I just need to find an elegant solution to house the iSight camera. I was thinking about just cutting off the cables, but it would be a shame, as it is fully functional.

Cheers

L

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lengthen the cables as necessary to take her camera in a place where you can use it

par

Does it have a plastic connector to the motherboard? You could get more wiring and another connector and also a tube of some kind and run the wires through the tube. You could build a box or stand with lego's and make a wired camera for it.

par

can it work without the iSight camera?

par

i have successfully removed the screen on a macbook air 13" 2012 extracting the wifi, bluetooth and camera. The camera cable may be disconnected from the actual camera, so I have that stored in a box in a shelf. My camera cable is hanging out the back right now.

par

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Just hook up an external monitor using:

Thunderbolt digital video output

Native Mini DisplayPort output

DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (sold separately)

VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (sold separately)

Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)

HDMI audio and video output using third-party Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (sold separately)

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Thanks, I'm doing that already, my question is how to remove the screen. I want to operate the MacBook Air just with its keyboard part, and remove the lid.

par

Would I be able to remove the screen by just opening the display assembly and saving myself the hassle of opening the base?

par

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if you plan to use it with an external keyboard leaves the connected display so you do not give up the wifi, but I do not remember the settings you can manage that discs do not go to sleep. but if you are determined to remove the part of the display you should leave all the wiring display and transfer it to the antennas and infetiore body but there really is very little space at least you do not remove the battery and let it always be fed to the grid

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Hi! I also have a broken display on my Macbook Air 5,2 (2012) and want to completely remove the display.

My question is:

Does the mac without a display send the output automatic to the external monitor? If yes, also at boot time? For example, if I want to boot from a cd or usb strick, can I see the boot menu? or can I only see the menu on my "removed" internal display?

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Hey macuser123, yes that works totally fine, booting goes straight to the external display. Good luck!

par

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Peace,

I would be really grateful if you could please answer the following questions...

1- "Would I be able to remove the screen by just opening the display assembly and saving myself the hassle of opening the base?"

2- Did the wifi antenna really turn out to be in the screen part ?

3- You mentioned that you left the display connector and the camera wires dangling, do you have any idea if the computer will still work if I cut off the wires ?

Thank you !

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I have just removed my screen on a macbook air 13" 2012.

1) No. The hinges of the display assembly can only be accessed by removing the bottom cover.

2) Yes the wifi and bluetooth antennae are in the screen assembly under the clutch (the black plastic part)

3) a) My display connector is on the screen, which is not on the base.

b) My camera wire is dangling outside as well, only because the hinge that holds the wifi and bluetooth cables is also holding the camera cable. I connected the end of the camera cable into the board, which is probably optional. I believe you could cut the camera wire and it will still work. And if you do cut the camera wire, You could remove it from the hinge altogether, and forget the connecting it into the board part.

par

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L S sera éternellement reconnaissant.
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