[dylanw]

I have a MacBook Core 2 Duo that I've been thinking of converting to a desktop machine. I want to re-house it without the display, and with a large 7200 rpm SATA drive, using a bluetooth keyboard & mouse and a larger external (although not giant) display.

Here's a few of the issues that concern me:

• Case: I've looked around a little, and it doesn't seem that there are any purpose-build computer cases out there that will be suitable. I was thinking of just adapting some generic project enclosure and cutting/drilling holes for ports and so forth.

• Cooling: I would expect that the Macbook's fan is specifically designed to handle cooling in a laptop case, and I'll probably need to find something else to cool the larger, more open space. Since it will have a desktop-sized hard drive, that will probably need cooling, too. I need to find out the specs for the fan, and if it will be possible to have more than one.

• Removed components: Will there be any issues with using it with the original display, keyboard and trackpad disconnected?

I've been looking around to see if anyone else has tried this, and I haven't found anything yet, so if anyone else has done it, or knows of someone who has, I'd really love to hear about their experience.

Thanks.

[turtle777]

Easy solution: Sell the MBP and get a Mac mini or entry level iMac.



-t

[olePigeon]

I always wanted to make my own mold and create transparent cases for Apple laptops. Unfortunately it's insanely expensive.

[seanc]

Yes there's a big issue with having the top case disconnected, you can't turn it on!

To be honest, you gain nothing that you wouldn't get in a Mini - they support dual displays too, why bother?

[Tuoder]

I once thought about doing the same thing. There are a could little issues you'd have to cope with. You'd need to adapt all of the ports into a case with little extension cables. The power set up would be interesting. I suppose you could open up the AC adapter and connect it to the rear cace using a socket. You'd need to make sure your grounding was up to spec.

Come to think of it, you could jsut leave the machine mostly intact and just use extension cables to get to the rear end of the enclosure. You would have to run a simple button to the front of the case.

[scaught]

Originally Posted by dylanw 

I have a MacBook Core 2 Duo that I've been thinking of converting to a desktop machine. I want to re-house it without the display, and with a large 7200 rpm SATA drive, using a bluetooth keyboard & mouse and a larger external (although not giant) display.

You can do everything minus the SATA drive by just leaving the thing closed and sitting on your desk with the monitor plugged in. Get some other kind of external drive.

[Waragainstsleep]

All the above advice is good, but I suspect its not in the spirit of what you want to do. Yes, a Mac Mini is more practical than your rebuild, but where is the fun in buying something off the shelf?

As far as your case goes, I doubt you will need to go with extra fans, or even a larger one. It should run plenty cool enough with the lid off. You will need to remove the cable from the top case and maybe rewire a power button to it.
The easiest way, if you want to use a larger PC case, is to just mount the whole bottom half of the MacBook in the case. You can extend most of the ports to the back of the case if you want to. USB extenders are easy to come by for example. DVI or VGA can be found too. Firewire might be harder to find unless you can pick up a hub (Worth mentioning that some firewire hubs have a tendancy to catch fire. Ideally you should try to pull one from a cracked cinema display or similar). You could make up your own though.

Not sure you will be able to just plug a standard 3.5" drive though. Even if it works, it may put unreasonable strain on the power system.

You can still use the existing display, but unless you are very patient and quite skilled with a soldering iron you will be restricted by the cable length.

Rather than a PC case, I would be tempted to build it into something more unusual. An LCD TV or a coffee table or something (Waterproof it if you do that).

I've always though laptops make great servers if you don't need massive CPU, RAM or storage overhead. A low traffic webserver or a music server using iTunes and Simplify for example. They don't use much juice (60W peak for a MacBook as opposed to 500W or so for an Xserve) and they have a built in UPS by way of the battery.