Ingenious: MacBook With Destroyed Display Turned Into iPad-Mac Hybrid

People have been trying to turn iPads into Macs and Macs into iPads for years, but one Redditor has finally managed to combine the two. When macOS 10.15 ships in a couple of weeks, it’s going to offer Sidecar, a feature that allows a Mac’s desktop to be extended onto an iPad. Reddit user Andrew decided to make the most of it.

The result is a Mac and iPad hybrid that’s pretty amazing. By taking a Mac and then attaching an iPad to it, he got the best of both worlds. And while Apple wouldn’t make this, we kind of wish it would.

The method involved defusing the broken LCD screen and backlight from the upper portion of the MacBook’s clamshell, modifying the Retina display driver, attaching a magnetic iPad case in-place of the Retina display and putting everything back together.

In regards to software, I’m using Catalina’s ’Sidecar’ to wirelessly (Bluetooth) mirror the once-existent Retina display and ‘keyboard maestro’ to establish the initial connection to the iPad upon booting up. Not in the video below is a demonstration of 1keyboard being used to re-route the Macbook’s keyboard as an input device for the iPad when Sidecar is disabled.

There’s a video accompanying the project and what’s impressive is how easily the iPad can be removed and used as a normal iPad Pro. I’d give this a try myself if I weren’t so incompetent, and I’m glad to see someone else doing the work to make this particular brand of magic a reality.

(Source: Reddit)

Related Stories