Reviving an old MacBook

Has anyone here ever picked up and repurposed an old plastic MacBook?

I have this exact model: everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.2-white-13-late-2007-santa-rosa-specs.html

I've put an SSD and upgraded RAM to 4GB.


I'm thinking about using some lightweight distro but the archwiki gave me false hope:

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook4,2_(late_2008)

As you can see there's nothing there, but I'm pretty sure some of you have done this, I've already tried ubantoo but I don't particularly like it.

I can RTFM if there's one

Other urls found in this thread:

ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-BATTERY-FOR-Apple-Mac-Macbook-A1185-A1181-Ma561-Blanca-MacBook-13-/331258833594?hash=item4d2090aaba&_uhb=1
youtu.be/FJw8aSxEFwQ
ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Core-2-DUO-2-13-13-White-4GB-160GB-Laptop-OS-X-10-10-3-A1181-/322197596648?hash=item4b047929e8:g:RgkAAOSw7s5XhkUl
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

just reinstall the latest version of osx that will run on it, retard

>Lion
Nah fampai, you can't even install most browsers

Xubuntu ran perfectly on my late 2009 MacBook 6.1 with a 2.26MhZ Core 2 Duo for years. 0 problems

El Capitan run perfectly on my late 2009 Macbook 6.1 2.26MhZ Core 2 Duo 8GB RAM for a year. 0 problems

Your best bet is Windows 10.

If I could install El Cap I would try

You're probably memeing but I'm pretty sure Windows would run pretty smoothly, I don't enjoy using windows though

This tbqh

From the Linux distros elementary is designed to look like OS X.

Not memeing. There's all sorts of fuckery involved to install Linux on Macs older than 2009.
Meanwhile, you can simply install Windows 10 from the disc and it will automatically download all the required drivers from Windows Update.

My dude do it. I haven't added any extra hardware and it runs like a dream, the only thing i would add would be a better battery, which you can pick up for next to nothin on ebay.

>I'm thinking about using some lightweight distro but the archwiki gave me false hope
Firstly, any distro is as lightweight as you make it. Arch is no more of a "lightweight" distro than Ubuntu.
Secondly, how did it give you false hope ? Did you just skim through that page and give up because there isn't a guide on how to install Arch on your specific hardware ? If so, Linux in general probably isn't for you.
Thirdly, install OpenSUSE.

I'm pretty sure you can install at least Mountain Lion through a hacky installer program if you're interested in dual booting.

I meant the archwiki as in it is the only distro wiki with a page dedicated to the exact model I have but it's empty, have you clicked the link?

Yeah, the program is called MLPostFactor.

I got the exact same model as OP about a month ago. Put Lubuntu on it and it runs fine, no SSD or RAM increase required. I do plan on replacing the battery (currently only charges to 70%) and redoing the thermal paste though.

I have the exact same model, with 4GB RAM and a 120GB SSD, with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Works flawlessly. Use it for general internet browsing.

What about 1080p streaming? On browser it is choppy, I tried livestreamer+VLC and it stays at 100% CPU.

YouTube videos are okay but still feels like it's struggling (I know this is expected)

Are you using unity?

Oh yeah I also got a new battery, works reasonably well. Ram upgrade was really noticeable for some tasks and $30 for a 4GB stick isn't that expensive

I don't stream at all on this machine. Gonna try it tonight though. 720p content on Youtube is ok for me :)

Yes, I use Unity. Comfy.

Can you suggest me a battery that's gonna actually work? Mine is literally 0% and can't accept any charge, so it's plugged in all the time. That's the only part I haven't changed yet.

ebay.co.uk/itm/WHITE-BATTERY-FOR-Apple-Mac-Macbook-A1185-A1181-Ma561-Blanca-MacBook-13-/331258833594?hash=item4d2090aaba&_uhb=1

I bought this one, seems like it has gone up in price a bit.

It works relatively well as I said, about 2 hours of normal use, which is fine.

The important bit is the reference A1185 A1181

The performance gains of moving from spinning
rust to SSDs are significant. Seek times on
10K RPM disks are on average measured
between 2 and 5 milliseconds, but the 99th percentile
latencies can be measured in the tens or
hundreds of milliseconds. Moving from milliseconds
(“ms,” one thousandth of a second) to
microseconds (“us,” one millionth of a second)
represents a three order-of-magnitude improvement
and this performance gain is now able to
be rolled out to all teams and applications, not
just the Tier-1 databases. And sure, the performance
gains are nice for benchmarks, but for
engineering teams, performance gain translates
into a real-world efficiency gain which shrinks
development schedules. Inefficient queries that
were frequently cache-miss and would take
50–100ms now take 60–200us. CPU usage rises
to desirable levels and engineering teams don’t
have to worry as much about performance
efforts. In effect, use of SSDs allows us to trade
OpEx for CapEx by reducing the time required to
ship many products, but what’s the trade-off and
what does an organization do about it?

thanks user, will have a look at this.

youtu.be/FJw8aSxEFwQ

Run Windows 7

Take out the SSD, put it in a more modern Macbook/iMac, update to El Capitan there and put it back on your old Macbook.

Profit.

I've got a black early 2008. Debian worked quite well.

It'd probably work, but there'd be no graphics acceleration due to a 32-bit driver being used on machines before the late 2008 unibody ones. Oh, and there's currently no trick for using the 32-bit GMA X3100 used in these machines with operating systems newer than Mountain Lion.

Used one of those 2.4/4GB/250GB with debian for a couple of years.

Later I upgraded to an SSD.

Nice little machine, got it second hand ultra cheap

This. I got my late 07 santa rosa macbook in 2010 for a steal, still werks like it's new, except the battery. I'm actually amazed that an almost decade old apple product holds up this well.

I bought it super cheap too, upgrading to an SSD isn't a problem because if it stops working I can just use it somewhere else.

I'm using it as a machine I can bring with my anywhere to fix shit at work, if it breaks for whatever reason I don't care much since it costed me nearly nothing.

And still, it looks great and works fine, it's pretty amazing

Put snow leopard on it and it will run silky smooth.

Actually yes i can help you here i revived an old late 08' macbook a couple of days ago.
I installed ubuntu but now i did linux mint on it , i put parts like 1tb drive and 8Gb of ram also.
I used unetbootin for booting it but theres also linux usb mac downloader aswell but the main important thing is using refind because refind allows you to vhange the config to boot up different OSs

I've got a lightly upgraded black macbook.

Will consider Debian.

this machine is gorgeous

pls don't pos ever again thx

this guy sells one 2009 model with Yosemite:

ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Core-2-DUO-2-13-13-White-4GB-160GB-Laptop-OS-X-10-10-3-A1181-/322197596648?hash=item4b047929e8:g:RgkAAOSw7s5XhkUl