Swapping SSD from one 2017 MacBook Air to another 2017 MacBook Air

[SKYLANE]

My friend has the following MacBook Air with a a damaged screen in upper right corner. It's usable, except for not being able to see a strip about 1/2 inch high by about 2 inches long. Damage probably from being dropped.
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017): 1.8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
Monterey? I would have to ask him.


I have the following MacBook Air
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017): 2.2 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7
Monterey 12.7
Original 128 GB SSD removed and replaced with an OWC 1TB SSD.


I am planning to move my data from my 2017 MBA to my 2014 Mac Mini, which would make my MacBook Air available to him should he want to take advantage of it. I mentioned to him to make sure his backups are current on both Time Machine and another external drive. Then I mentioned to him that "I believe that since our models are similar, that it might be as simple as moving his SSD from his machine into mine and just booting up". From what little I found looking around online, looks like this should work.

Questions:

(1) Should swapping the SSD from one MacBook Air to the other MacBook Air (of those listed above) work as described? Any cautions to think about?

(2) If we do swap out the SSD, would it make sense to replace thermal paste on the i7 CPU? Just curious if anyone has done it here. (The reason I am asking, fan really spins up sometimes when doing things on Safari, like moving around Google Maps. Also, during macOS updates. Maybe that is typical for this model.)

[Buzz]

A little Arctic Silver goes a long way.

Swapping SSD's is dead-bang simple, but why not just clone his SSD onto yours? It's likely bigger and better than that of his more plebeian MBA.
As long as you're in there, maybe think about swapping the battery too.
And give the innards a good few blasts of canned air.
Enjoy.
==

[Gareth]

SKYLANE wrote:
(1) Should swapping the SSD from one MacBook Air to the other MacBook Air (of those listed above) work as described? Any cautions to think about?

Yes, it's that "simple". However, if he has any software that requires activation, that may not work anymore and would require re-activation (which might require pre-planning to de-activate first). I.e. lifetime licenses of Office, old Adobe CS5/CS6.

SKYLANE wrote:
(2) If we do swap out the SSD, would it make sense to replace thermal paste on the CPU? Just curious if anyone has done it here. (The reason I am asking, fan really spins up sometimes when doing things on Safari, like moving around Google Maps. Also, during macOS updates. Maybe that is typical for this model.)

Is it your machine or his that runs "hot"? I never liked the i7 in the Airs (I had one). Battery life was too short and it probably did run hotter than the i5. It looks like it's a fare amount of steps to redo the thermal paste (but not hard).

If it was me, I'd do a display swap instead. Keep him on the i5 and his SSD. Maybe figure out which battery is better and swap that too if needed (batteries are easy on those Airs, just screws, no adhesive). If he doesn't have any software issues to think about and is ok with the i7, then just clone it (or do the display swap and clone and swap the 1TB to the i5).

[GGD]

Gareth wrote:
If it was me, I'd do a display swap instead. Keep him on the i5 and his SSD. Maybe figure out which battery is better and swap that too if needed (batteries are easy on those Airs, just screws, no adhesive). If he doesn't have any software issues to think about and is ok with the i7, then just clone it (or do the display swap and clone and swap the 1TB to the i5).

I agree, everything is fairly easy to repair on that generation MB Air, I recently did a screen swap on one and got a pretty good condition screen assembly on ebay for under $45.

In my case there was really nothing wrong with the the old screen, it was the the antenna connectors that attach to the WiFi/Bluetooth card that were bad, and there's really no easy way to replace just the antenna, it's inside the screen assembly.

[anonymouse1]

Non-Apple OEM SSDs sometimes reject OS updates.

[SKYLANE]

Everyone...

Appreciate those inputs! Lots of good options to consider...



Gareth,

Thanks for pointing out the software license note. My movement of data from my 2017 MBA to my 2014 Mac Mini will require some thought as well regarding MS Office 2019. I am sure my friend has MS Office of some sort to contend with on his machine as well. I saw past threads where you and some others were talking about this topic, I will go back and reference those.

Yes, it is my machine with the i7 that likes to ramp up on the fan from time to time. Regarding the 1TB OWC drive, I plan to repurpose that SSD for my needs. However, probably easier to let him have that as well.