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Is it possible to switch a motherboard out from one laptop and place it in with another laptop? Reason I ask is one laptop is fully broke screen wise and the other just won't turn on. So figured if I could put them both together I would have something.

EDIT: The models are not the same at all. Different companies.

fixer1234
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Rachel Nark
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2 Answers2

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If they're both the exact same model, then yes, very likely.

If they're different models, but from the same series, then it might be doable, but depends on the exact models. For instance, the motherboards of certain ThinkPad T60 and T61 models are identical, and swapping in a T61 motherboard is a popular modification for the T60.

If they're from different series, or even different manufacturers, then most likely not. Unlike their desktop counterparts, laptop motherboards are highly proprietary parts designed for a particular form factor, chassis design, port layout etc.

Indrek
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  • That makes sense. Guess I could some how just take both of them and create some type of desktop system. But yea, they both are completely different but guess I could look and see how they match up – Rachel Nark Oct 18 '12 at 21:30
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    @RachelNark If you want to build desktop system from laptop and would like to use some other than original laptop "casing" you should pay some attention on component cooling. Some laptops use metal frames around motherboard as heat conductor surface / radiator. – Sampo Sarrala Oct 18 '12 at 21:41
  • @RachelNark If they're completely different models, then you might not even be able to get the screen to work. Laptop screen connectors aren't universal like VGA/DVI/DisplayPort/etc. that you have on desktop monitors. While they're based on the LVDS standard, the connectors and cables used can also often be highly proprietary. – Indrek Oct 18 '12 at 21:45
  • More on topic: Is it easy to build a monitor from a latop screen?, i'd say worth to try... – Sampo Sarrala Oct 18 '12 at 21:56
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Including the assumptions from the other answers, you really just want to replace the broken LCD screen by taking it from the non-responding laptop. The other way around, transferring the motherboard of the working_MB/bad_LCD to the nonworking_MB/good_LCD is about 4 times as much effort/time.

jdh
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