Repurposing MBP LCD display as an external monitor?

[curnalpanic]

I have an old Macbook Pro 15-inch (2014), whose battery was removed a few years back when it started to swell up. It has not been used since.

But I was thinking of repurposing its display as an external monitor for my iMac (2019). I believe the LCD panel is using embedded display port (eDP), and there appears to be some cheap, passive adapters available that would allow me to go to full-size DisplayPort and then to USB-C.

The panel model number is LP154WT1 (SJ)(E1).

To clarify, I'm not interested in just buying a brand new external monitor. This is a hobby project and an attempt to make use of something that I already have.

Does anyone know if this can be done?

Thanks in advance!

 

[PaulD-UK]

@curnalpanic This can be done, but the LCD driver board seems not to be available at the moment.

"A Slovak guy called Daniela Rozsnyó has designed an LCD driver board with interface that can use the 15.4" 220ppi MacBook Pro retina LCD as a PC monitor.
He is connecting it through display port. The power feed is anywhere betwen 9-18V. Backlight power consumption is 8W and LCD panel 2W.
He is showing it here http://dp2mbpr.rozsnyo.com/"

However http://www.rozsnyo.com just has a holding page saying 'Stay tuned! New site is coming...'

The conversion is shown in a YouTube video in operation:

There is a (very 😉) long series of blog posts, 'Mike's Mods', describing in great detail the process of getting the conversion to work, which acknowledges Rozsnyó's part in this enterprise (in the first part Comments):

Hacking the Macbook Pro Retina LCD, Part 1: First Looks | Mike's Mods

Normally these sorts of LCD driver boards are make in China - you can find 1000s of different versions on AliExpress.
But not this particular one... ☹️

 

[curnalpanic]

Looks very promising! Thanks for the links.

 

[kinga]

Yeah, it’s doable. You’ll need a compatible LCD controller board for that panel. Check eBay or AliExpress. Just make sure it matches the exact model number. The passive adapters alone won’t cut it. That's a cool little project, though. It would be great to see it up and running!

 

[curnalpanic]

exact model number

Yeah, that's the tricky part.

Searching for "LP154WT1 (SJ)(E1)" yields no results at all. I only get boards for similar panels, but not this exact one.

Guess that's why Rozsnyó had to make a custom one.