Chosen Solution
Recently I dropped my 2014 Macbook Pro and completely ruined the screen. It’s a retina display, so to get the screen fixed, it’s a hefty $450 part and then labor costs. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars, is it possible for me to take the insides of that Macbook and use them to upgrade my old and clunky 2011 Macbook? What parts are moveable? My biggest priority is making this 2011 Macbook able to run more current versions of programs (for example the most recent version of R/R Studio). Thanks for the help!
The parts, with just a couple of exceptions are not interchangeable. Now with just a coulee of mods that 2011 should run great. First take it to 8 GB of RAM. Next change out the hard drive cable to one out of a 2012. Next install an SSHD. This should really make that older machine run much better. For even better performance install an SSD instead of the SSHD. This machine is relatively cheap to upgrade and is repairable, whereas the 2014 is not.