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2008 Macbook 2.1

thewall

thewall

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
147
37
U.K
I have acquired a 2008 MacBook 2.1 running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 it has 500gb HD, 2Ghz intel core 2 duo, 1 Gb 667 MHz DDR2 SDRam.
It's in perfect condition boots up great, loads most web pages with no trouble.
I have tried to update to another OS but i can't find one in the App store as i'm not prompted to update.
Some web pages won't load as Safari and chrome won't open them i assume the OS is to early, tried Firefox but that does go that far back.

Can i install more ram it has 2 slots (512mb in each at the moment) also how can i update the OS

I would be a shame not to get this working as it's nearly new condition.
 
Your 2008 MacBook (which I'm guessing is 2.1 Ghz, making it a MacBook 4,1) can only officially be updated to 10.7.5 Lion, though with the use of SFOTT it is possible to install Mavericks or Mountain Lion.

I honestly haven't had the best of experience with SFOTT installing 10.8 or 10.9 on the MacBooks in my collection; I always seem to run across WiFi or graphics card driver issues. Your other option for an OS is Linux. There are ISOs and instructions found at mattgadient.com, but you will need a working internal optical drive. (I've tried using an external USB DVD drive, with no success.)

To get around web browser compatibility issues, I've had good experience running ArcticFox (though it really is better for 32-bit Core Duo Macs), or Firefox Legacy/SpiderWeb/InterWeb/TenFourFox Intel with FoxPEP. Other good up-to-date browser options for you are WaterFox Classic or Pale Moon. If you really want to run Chrome on Lion, the most up to date version to get would be Chromium 49.0.2623.112 from 2016, which I don't recommend running unless you run into a site which doesn't work properly on a Firefox-based browser.

In terms of hardware upgrades, I often replace the hard drive with an SSD, and put the RAM up to 4 GB (2 x 2 GB); it is possible to upgrade to 6 GB (4 GB + 2 GB) but in my experience, 4 GB DDR2 SO-DIMMs are difficult to find and expensive. You could also replace the slot-loading optical drive with a drive caddy, and either put the 500 GB HDD in the caddy, or install another SSD. When you you decide to use an SSD in your system, also make sure you use a utility like Chameleon SSD Optimizer to enable TRIM on your system. Aside from cleaning out the fan/heatsink, and replacing the thermal paste, I'd also recommend getting a working battery in your MacBook for best results (if your battery is already dead).
 
Last edited:
Hi
Thanks rampancy found a compatible Firefox and working fine now.
Another question is if i want to reinstall OS how would i go about this as i don't have any disks, the reason i would like to reinstall OS is because as you know some things are password protected and i cannot access them to set up the system.

The battery surprisingly is in good health
 
You'll have to get your hands on a 10.7.5 .dmg file and burn it to a DVD.
 
Found plenty on eBay (don't have an account ) they are 10.6 can i still get the updates to update to 10.6.8
 
If you are not going to update the hardware, then ChromeOS or Linux.

If you are going to update the hardware (240 GB DRAM-less SSD plus 4 GB RAM - total cost US$40 to $45), then don't bother with ChromeOS or Linux. Install OS X 10.7.5, and then install Firefox Legacy 68 ESR.

Firefox Legacy

A modern version of Firefox modified to work on older Mac OS X versions, including 10.6 Snow Leopard, 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion.
parrotgeek.com parrotgeek.com

10.6.8 is too old unfortunately, IMO.
 
thewall said:
Hi
Thanks rampancy found a compatible Firefox and working fine now.
Another question is if i want to reinstall OS how would i go about this as i don't have any disks, the reason i would like to reinstall OS is because as you know some things are password protected and i cannot access them to set up the system.

The battery surprisingly is in good health
Click to expand...
You'd have to purchase a copy of either Snow Leopard OR Lion from places like eBay. Snow Leopard and Lion were both sold retail, and I believe cost $29.99 new.
 
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