Chosen Solution
Hi everyone, I’ve got a Macbook Air with a broken screen that I’m trying to salvage. I want to turn it into a desktop computer using an external screen, keyboard and mouse. I know for a fact only the screen is broken, as the rest of the laptop and left half of the screen was working fine before I wiped and restored the OS. Now however I see only a black screen when I turn it on and it won’t connect to an external display. The only option I can think of is to somehow connect an external monitor to the built-in LVDS connector. Does anyone know of an adapter I can use? Replacing the screen is not economically viable for a computer this old. Update (01/03/2022) A quick update. I rebooted using Option+Command+P+R and finally got a mouse pointer! The computer was in internet recovery mode and searching for a Wifi network that doesn’t reach here. The middle of the screen is broken so previously I wasn’t seeing the spinning globe. I managed to choose the correct network and entered the password, after which it finally started booting and I got the recovery screen. The external monitor then started working and I’m reinstalling the OS right now.
There is no LVDS to external display adapter. There are display conversion kits which take a still working display turning it into a external display but that’s not what we have here. Frankly, I don’t remember if the MacBook Air’s allows clamshell use. Basically, plugging in an external display, keyboard and mouse/trackpad using the system with the lid closed like the MacBook Pro’s can. Give that a try!
