Chosen Solution
I have a 1.83GHz Core2Duo A1181 Macbook. I am wondering if it is possible to swap the logic board for a 2.4GHz model, and if it is not possible, what would be preventing it. I assume they use the same size and shape logic board considering they’re the same generation. Thank you in advance
Although size and shape are exactly the same the A1181 has changed boards with the years. It’s not a matter of speed only, small connectors on the board have been modified too. A 2009 A1181 board doesn’t fit a 2007 machine. To be on the safe side I would suggest to always ask seller about compatibility. The board number changed at least 3 times with the years and every release introduced variations. Sticking with a board of the same release would surely grant compatibility. Board numbers read such as 820-xxxx-x
It generally isn’t worth the cost to do a board swap on the A1181 due to the age of them and the fact you can only run up to 10.7 on the GMA ones (most) and 10.9 on the 9400M version (hard to come by) - yes, some people have patched newer versions of MacOS, but generally after 10.8 it wasn’t a good candidate with GMA boards, but the 9400M got up to 10.10 before it was no longer a good candidate. They also are limited to 2GB/3GB tested on the 2006-2007 models and 4GB/6GB tested on 2008-9 models. The other issue is the DDR2 RAM it requires is incredibly expensive and hard to get in anything useful (4GB+) Your money is better spent on a 2012 13” MBP, a cleaning/CPU repaste and a new HD cable if you have no emotional attachment to this A1181. It’s much faster with a 3rd gen core i processor (i5 commonly), can run the current version of MacOS and can take much more RAM (8GB official/16GB tested). You can keep the MB but the cost of the upgrade is more then the machine is worth unless you somehow get the board stupid cheap, which won’t be easy.
