Bake Your Own Apple and Raspberry Pi Laptop

Source: Tom's Hardware added 07th May 2021

  • bake-your-own-apple-and-raspberry-pi-laptop

(Image credit: Littlespleen)

The Raspberry Pi might be known as a pocket-sized computer but it does turn up in all manner of places. This maker, known as Littlespleen online, decided to use an old Apple laptop as housing for a Raspberry Pi 4.

The best Raspberry Pi projects breathe life into old hardware, and this one recycles a broken MacBook. This exact model, the A1181, was chosen due to the trackpad and keyboard which connect via USB—perfect for attaching to a Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi 4 outputs video to the original MacBook screen via an adaptor. According to Littlespleen, there are many third-party controller boards on the market that can take inputs from HDMI / DVI and VGA and output to LCD displays. Users need to research the exact model number when recreating this project to make sure a compatible board is chosen.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Littlespleen)

Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Littlespleen)

Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Littlespleen)

As space is at a premium, careful decisions had to be made and one was form factor. This required some capacitors to be placed on their side to make room for the LCD controller board installation. Most of the hardware was placed under the keyboard after gutting the original internals. The onboard batteries power both the Raspberry Pi and the display, with careful consideration made to include a voltage regulator / switching power supply to ensure the Raspberry Pi only sees 5V.

The end result is a fully functional laptop that looks like Apple but tastes like Raspberry. If you want to read more about how it goes together, visit the original Reddit thread for more details.

Read the full article at Tom's Hardware

brands: Apple  Best  HDMI  It  Keyboard  Macbook  One  party  Premium  Raspberry  Raspberry Pi  Space  WAS  
media: Tom's Hardware  
keywords: Apple  laptop  LCD  

Related posts


Notice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 88

Notice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 88

Related Products



Notice: Undefined variable: all_related in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 91

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/vhosts/rondea.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/rondea-2-0/single-article.php on line 91