Chosen Solution
My macbook pro early 2011 - A1278 has a broken keyboard due to liquid damage. I want to replace the upper case with keyboard but I can only find upper cases with a US keyboard (horizontal ‘enter’ key) whereas my current macbook has the EN International keyboard layout (vertical ‘enter’ + extra key between ‘z’ and ‘left shift’). Is it still possible to do this replacement and have the macbook recognise the different layout? Possibly through new keyboard setup or any other software solution? Or are there hardware/ connector differences between the 2 layouts as well making the replacement impossible?
Sure you can replace the full uppercase with the UK version (ISO keyboard) Here’s the needed part Unibody MacBook Pro 13" Top Case & UK keyboard (Early 2011) and here’s the guide you’ll need to follow MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Upper Case Replacement You may need to replace the trackpad as well. As far as getting the other keyboard to work you’ll need to use an external keyboard (USB or Bluetooth) to alter the keyboard driver within the Keyboard control panel.
I’ve done keyboard replacement several times going both from English to International and vise versa with no problems.
