2006 Macbook Pro Modern Sleeper Project

[RyzenMaster.sys]

This thread serves as a log for my project to modernize a 2006 Macbook Pro (Core Duo, 512/128mb, 80GB) with modern hardware internals, ideally for the cheap! I love the chassis of this laptop, the keyboard, trackpad, aluminum design, etc but do not love the hardware from 20 years ago.

Backstory and rationale:

I got this device for $13 plus shipping on ebay, and as you'd imagine its not exactly in tip top shape for that price, although it is in mostly working and repairable condition: Its missing screws and falling apart, plus the slot loading optical drive eats discs and the HDD is loud and slow. I posted about it here awhile back, if you want more context and pics : https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/page-765#post-5343231

I was going to repair the device with new drives, ram upgrade, a battery, and case screws, and perhaps even mail the MLB to a friend with experience in BGA work to upgrade the CPU. I ordered the screws and recieved the wrong ones then forgot about doing anything else. Its such an obselete model its not useful for much other than display purposes, and mine in particular isn't nice enough cosmetically for that use even... I am usually not one to call something old useless, i'm writing this post on a Core 2 device on Windows Vista, but this Macbook's 32bit CPU makes it objectively useless in 2025. I still feel bad about disassembling a near vintage device, so I am going to ensure I keep EVERY SINGLE part I take out and do as little irreversable mods as possible, ideally do none.

The plan:
I would like to install hardware that is new enough to officially support Windows 11, perhaps do hackintosh?, and do a bit of virtualization. Considering anything Whiskey/Coffee Lake or Zen+ and up, 4c8t/6c6t at a minimum. Option one is to purchase a laptop that has working hardware, but is cheap for some other reason, like a broken screen/hinges, chassis damage, bad battery, etc. A 13inch laptop board would fit best. Option 2 is to utilize a SBC like a Lattepanda, but these are... expensive.

Phase 1: Disassembly
It's gutted, has room for activities in here:

Phase 2: Peripherals - This is where I am at now:
There is no sense to buy other hardware to install in here if I will have no way to make it interface with the rest of the computer, so here is my thoughts:

Needs:
Display - LVDS internally, I believe. Will look for appropriate driver boards.
Speakers - Analog, should be easy to adapt to whatever board I use, or perhaps just 3.5mm TRS.
Keyboard + Trackpad - DONE! Full size USB-A, see below for my handywork.
Wifi - Antennas are standard mpcie size, will need to extend these and develop a way to adapt this to the smaller M.2 size antenna connector
DC IN - If I could somhow retain magsafe and the OEM charger I would be thrilled. If I get a mainboard that requires a signal from the charger this will make it difficult. You can program an Arduino usually to emulate the ID signal.
Power button: Its literally 2 wires, no circuitry involved, Apple couldn't have made this easier for me.
Cooling: Needs to line up with the OEM grilles.

Nice to have (In order of importance) :
External USB and 3.5mm ports. Thinking I can make these ports work with a USB hub and appropriate adapters. 3d printed mounts.
Webcam: I really dont care if this works but it would make it more complete feeling. Have not done research on this at all yet though.
Keyboard Backlight: Need to find the pinout for what I believe is the 4 pin connector coming out of the keyboard responsible for the backlight.
External Display Support - IF the board used has a HDMI/DP out i can adapt that to go where the current DVI out sits. Issue becomes spacing, I would honestly be ok with just sticking a HDMI port there and a 3d printed bezel.
External USB C - Would love to give this USB C, no need for charging capabilities. Peraps this could go in place of existing legacy IO, maybe part of the same spot as the HDMI out?

Unlikely to make work:
Battery - Interfacing with an Apple battery is probably a long shot. If I could put a battery internally that corresponds to whatever board I install it would be great. But space is very limited for that...
Optical Drive - There will not be room for this, and besides slot loaders suck

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Today I got the keyboard and touchpad working. I thought it would be more difficult than it is, was thinking at the minimum I would have to break out an adapter or arduino.

Thankfully, Apple engineers in 2005/2006 chose to make the touchpad and keyboard communicate over USB internally. I discovered this through some googling and looking at datasheets for the 2 identical infineon ICs on the trackpad board. Apple helpfully labeled the pads on the board for Data+/- DP and DM.
A very helpful anon poster from 2013 in the comments section of this thread posted a picture that got me the rest of the way http://attemptedmaker.blogspot.com/2012/10/converting-macbook-keyboardtouch-pad.html

I dont think the pic is for a pro, but the PCB appears the same.

Here is the result using a chopped up lighting cable cut to an appropriate length:

Its not pretty. In fact its pretty terrible looking, the ground especially. I can do better, but opted to stop messing with it once I tested it and it worked. Hot glue is keeping things in place, strain relief, and short circuit protection. The trackpad, left click button, and keyboard all work perfectly when I've tested it with a couple different computers. The backlight is not wired in yet, and I'm not sure if thatll be possible because of how tiny the connector is.

Next process is getting the display adapted to a more modern standard. While I wait on parts for that i'll work on the speakers, which should be easy. Then perhaps the webcam since that seems easy.

 

[igormp]

Wild thought, maybe you could look into using the innards of one of those atom tablets that run Windows.

 

[Mathragh]

Wild thought, maybe you could look into using the innards of one of those atom tablets that run Windows.

Or simply another more modern laptop!

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Just confirmed the webcam is indeed USB via the datasheet for the image microprocessor. Unsure how to figure out which wire is what, but once I do I'll snip another USB cable in half and make it also USB A.

As far as the display, I confirmed a standard LVDS cable can plug into the panel. Bought a long LVDS cable and a driver board for this display that also has an inverter for the CCFL (ew) backlight. The board requires 12v DC, which just adds another problem to deal with, but nothing a buck converter can't fix. Won't get here for awhile, coming from AliExpress in China.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Assuming it fits, I have purchased the guts of a Dell Latitude 3500 with an 8265u for only $25. Mainboard, cooler+fan, daughter IO boards.

Probably will use the onboard VGA for the internal display driver board and utilize the onboard HDMI for external IO, maybe even adapt to the factory DVI out.

Research says the board can charge over either the Type C or DC barrel jack. I plan to put a USB port where magsafe went and just use type c for power in. I were to adapt magsafe to the DC in on the board, the voltage and wattage would be adequate, but I would have to buy, program, mount, and wire up an Arduino to emulate the serial signal Dell adapters provide or it would throw a fit.

Gonna put the type c where the fire wire port is, and get extenders for the onboard 3.5mm + RJ45 to reenable those IO ports

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

I do have a question for anyone reading. The display driver board requires 12v input, 2a minimum.

I would like to have this powered via the laptop itself, not having a separate power brick tied to it at all times.

How could I make this work?

 

[igormp]

I do have a question for anyone reading. The display driver board requires 12v input, 2a minimum.

I would like to have this powered via the laptop itself, not having a separate power brick tied to it at all times.

How could I make this work?

Boost converter out of the battery is my first thought

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Preparing it for the new hardware to go in. 3d printed a cover where the ram and battery bays used to be, removed all the standoffs. Most were easy, last 1 was a pain.

3d printing new standoffs I can mount wherever then electrical tape all around them so I don't short anything out.

Once the hardware is in, I'll 3d print some sort of frame in here to keep the chassis strong and keep that door in place not via tape.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

Short:
It's coming along. It now has a motherboard in it and working power button. Long way to go, but sort of working like a laptop now as long as you have an external monitor handy.


Long:
Got the board situated and screwed in place. The 3d printed standoffs I made need redesigned for more strength, then I'll adhere them to the case permanently. Probably going to incorporate the standoffs into the skeleton frame I'm working on eventually.

I also sorted the power button out. Blasted the tiny power button on the dell daughterboard with hot air and removed it, then soldered leads to the Apple power button in its place. Simple and easy. Mounted this daughterboard to the top case.

Still waiting on a lot of parts. SSD, display driver board, etc. Im tired of wiring so I believe I'll work on things that don't require hot air or a soldering iron for awhile.

Next easy thing that will make the laptop feel more complete is getting the external IO working. Now that I know what space I'm working with, I just need to throw some money at Amazon, monoprice, or AliExpress plus whip up some 3d printed mounts.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

It's looking like a functional laptop now! (It's not even close). I've been low on time and waiting for shipping but worked on it a lot today.

I've printed some much better standoffs to mount everything. They're taped in place for now, will be epoxied to the case eventually. I may reprint with 100% infill for maximum strength.

I got a USBC port located and working for power delivery. It's occupying where the firewire port would have been from the factory.

As you can see it now has a working display on it, but the driver board and backlight inverter are hiding externally behind the display, and connected to external 12v power.

I've mocked their locations up, hoping to keep room for IO and a battery.The inverter board this came with is huge, but I'm not sure how to make the small Apple inverter that lives in the display bezel work. They're both 4 wires input but I figure if I try to adapt it I'll end up letting the smoke out of something, so the new inverter goes there ish. The backlight cable does not reach this far though, so I have an extension on the way from China.

Other issue is the LVDS cable provided is quite short and will not reach. I knew this ahead of time though, and I purchased the longer one you see there, however with that plugged in I get no display signal. I may message the seller and see what the cause may be.

I plan to solder a ribbon VGA cable onto the display driver board to make it connect to the VGA output without doing what I have now:

This is how I have been doing it, but it won't fit with the board rotated 90°, and the board has to be rotated to fit a battery

Another issue is that the only way the display driver board fits in here is without any standoffs. It's too thick otherwise. I should be able to remove the vertical VGA, audio, and hardwire the 12v power to make it slimmer, but the LVDS also may be too high to fit here. I'm not sure how to proceed tbh.

I while I figure that out I'll order some speakers from the Dell latitude and just mount the. To the grilles here, that should be expz. I'm waiting on AliExpress shipping for some cables to get the external DVI, RJ45, and external USB ports connected. I'll also order some wifi antennas to mount to the grille on the back of the laptop. I can't use the factory ones since they're meant for an mpcie card and the antenna connector is different. This is the lazy way of doing it and signal strength won't be as good, but it should be usable.

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

It's been a few weeks, but I've not forgotten about this project. For awhile I was stumped because the inverter and LVDS display driver board I was just not going to be able to make work. They didn't really fit, the inverter board was huge and the LVDS driver board was too thick. Even aside from that it was going to be a lot more work and to get the 12v DC input required, especially if I needed a buck converter.

I've since discovered the existence of eDP to LVDS converters

In theory this just plugs into the eDP internal display connector and converts that signal to LVDS so that with the appropriate cable I can plug in the Apple factory LCD. It also has a backlight output for the inverter to plug into and it varies the backlight based on the eDP input, meaning I can just adjust the brightness in windows like normal. It's all powered by the edp as well, no extra power. On paper this solves all of my issues, but time will tell, waiting for delivery. I do know my screen is 3.3v LVDS, and that board defaults to 5v output so I'll have to blast it with some hot air to move that diode to the correct spot. Not sure why they couldn't have just used a jumper or dip switch....

Next issue is the giant inverter board to drive the backlight for the display. The Apple original inverter is very small and fits neatly in the display bezel, but it's not exactly plug and play with anything but the original motherboard. The apple inverter uses a 5 (but really 4) pin connector that is very small physically. However, both the eDP->LVDS board and the HDMI/VGA to LVDS driver board use a larger 6 pin connector, although the included cables has only 4 wires.

I spent a long time messing about and eventually had some help finding a schematic for a slightly different model Apple part that, with the help of a multimeter and some patience, allowed me to figure out the pinouts.

The AliExpress driver board has the pinout printed on it, with 2 +12v pins, 2 ground pins, 1 pin labeled BL On, and one pin labeled ADJ. The BL on and ADJ pin both read 5v, but I highly suspect the latter is some sort of pwm, I just lack an oscope to determine this. The pinouts of the apple inverter are above based on the schematic and confirming with a meter.

I snipped the connectors off of both and wired them up appropriately, but was not able to get the inverter to turn on. I tried to flip the 2 5v wires in case I somehow misunderstood what they did, and still had no dice. However, for some reason, when I twisted both the backlight on signal wire and the pwm backlight signal wire together and plugged them into the constant 5v BL on pin, the display lit up fine. Now I don't want to keep it like this as it effectively runs the backlight at 100% duty cycle 24/7 and the inverter is audibly screaming in pain, but it does work.

I want to say this issue is due to the HDMI/vga->LVDS driver board not actually having any way of controlling the backlight. Even with the inverter it included it cannot dim the LCD properly, the brightness button effectively just changes contrast and doesn't seem to adjust the backlight. Hopefully the new EDP to LVDS driver board has proper backlight control. For now the wires are just twisted and taped so I can rewire it if needed when that board comes in.

I also added new wifi antennas with the right size connector into the display bezel where the factory ones were, and got a long enough LVDS cable with the right channel count and tucked everything back into the display bezel. Webcam isn't plugged in atm.

Nothing special going on here, still needs a lot of work. Most of the external IO is working now at least.

 

[jallenlabs]

This is.... GLORIOUS! It brings back found memories of modding for me. There used to be a website called MacMod.com that I worked for, like 20 some years ago (It was bought out and shutdown), and I did stuff like this all the time. My first mod was taking an ibook g3 and putting it, with screen, within a aluminum poker chip case. They actually sent one of my builds to MacWorld in San Francisco to be shown off as it was the first watercooled upgraded PowerMac g3 (it had the fastest g4 zif) and it was in a ATX case. Pics below.

I cant to see this to the end. Ill be watching!

 

[RyzenMaster.sys]

I haven't posted an update in awhile because the project largely stalled out at getting the display to work. I did buy the LVDS to eDP board but largely failed at getting it to work. Its much more complicated than I expected and came with no real documentation. It does not output the right display and does not show up on the system because it has no display identification. Talking to the seller it needs to be programmed with an EDID binary which it will use to communicate with the dell board and tell it that 1) there is a display present, and 2) the display specs, timings, resolution, supported refresh rate modes etc.

It has a header on the board I imagine is SPI, but I basically just gave up and got super busy with work and school, sidelining the whole thing.

I'd like to return to this, I have a bad habit of failing projects.

 

[jallenlabs]

Don't quit now! You have come to far to bail. I wish I could assist with the display config issue, but EDID binary is outta my wheelhouse. However, I must say that I recently completed a build that took about 12 years to complete (the Dell XPS512tr Ferrari Themed PC). Like you, I had to sideline it many times, sometimes for an entire year, because of other life requirements, finances, time, etc. It went through several platforms on its way to completion.
Here is a pic of it, hopefully it gives you a bit of motivation to keep at it. Heres hoping!