Recycled 2008 Unibody MacBook5,1 A1278; EMC 2254 keyboard replacement questions

[splifingate]

Greetings, all.

I was gifted a double-handful of old comps (see my other PowerPC-specific post here).

Among these was a very lightly used 2008 MacBook Unibody (MB466LL/A).

Unfortunately, I have found that not all the keys respond . . . u, x and left-⌘ are particularly problematic, as I cannot reset the laptop (or anything else CL-related, which makes the whole Unit useless to me).

So, I went down the twisty-windy eBay/YT Road....

Found numerous options.; even the guy on YT who replaced his original with a raw MBP keyboard unit (only to find that the left arrow key was mis-aligned).

I can source a handful of used (raw) keyboard units for cheap, one New (Other), handfuls of used 2008's for about the same price as the N/O kb, and a bazillion 'New' MBP 2009-201x units.

No matter how I proceed, all of It will probably be straight out of Job.

Curious about what others tried, did, failed, and sucessful thoughts on the matter.

Thanks!

 

[rampancy]

Yes, it is possible to replace the keyboard on an A1278 MacBook, but...it's a really involved process that may not ultimately be worth the time and effort. What I'd do is look into getting a replacement topcase, since the topcase and keyboard are one joint assembly.

 

[splifingate]

Yes, it is possible to replace the keyboard on an A1278 MacBook, but...it's a really involved process that may not ultimately be worth the time and effort. What I'd do is look into getting a replacement topcase, since the topcase and keyboard are one joint assembly.

Yeah; I'm guessing that this is exactly why the previous User decided to abandon the use of the Unit I now hold.

Thank you for the confirmation

I have poured-over the availability that is on The Bay, and the top-case offerings were (at least to my review) sub-par.

My Unit is pristine, apart from the fact that five keys do not register input.

Purchased a lightly-used direct-replacement keyboard from teh Bay, yesterday, and will dive into the dis-/re-assembly (educational, no?).

Found one (1) New keyboard assembly, and will hold that in reserve (pending unsuccessful implantation of the Used unit).