MB 1,1-7,1 Came across an old MacBook for a steal – and it's barely used!

[J.Appleseed]

This morning I went to pick up some second-hand MagSafe chargers from a local Craigslist listing and the seller offered to throw in a 2007 MacBook for €20. It was a little dirty but after a wipedown it seemed like the case was in pretty good condition.

To get an idea of its condition internally, I downloaded an old version of coconutbattery – turns out the battery is holding 100% of its original charge with only 34 charge cycles! But coconutBattery on OS X 10.6 won't tell you anything about how old the battery is, so I wasn't sure if it was the original battery that this MacBook came with.

Eventually I came across an app called MiniBatteryLogger that was developed in the OS X 10.4 days, and it provides more information on the battery's age. The battery was manufactured in January 2008, just like the machine itself! And with the Mac OS X install dating back to 2009 it seems like this MacBook has hardly been used after that time.

It's incredible to think that the battery hasn't aged all this time it's been sitting in a drawer. I figured you'd probably enjoy this unexpected find!

Some pictures:

 

[TheShortTimer]

That looks in immaculate condition! I love the A1181s - and although I haven't used any of mine for a few years now, they still remain among my most treasured Macs. Even the edges of the palm rests are still intact and usually, they're the first things to develop issues.

20 Euros? Nicely done.

What will you use it for?

 

[eyoungren]

Congrats, it looks like a very nice Mac. I have never wanted an MB (and still don't), but they do hold a special place in my heart for a particular reason.

A coworker had one of these and I was trying to help her back around that time period. I was aware of the Intel transition, but was solidly PowerPC. What I was NOT aware of was how Apple started changing things internally. I was unable to help, because I couldn't understand what had been changed and connect to her Mac using the work PowerPC Macs.

Now, of course, I understand and it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but back then I couldn't figure it out. And when something like that happens, I usually resolve to figure it out.

So, that MB sent me down the path of waking up and becoming aware to the Intel Macs and their differences. Without that challenge, I'd probably had been struggling much later on when Intels started becoming part of my work and personal life.

So, I'm happy this Mac has found a good home and that you've found such a great Mac.

 

[B S Magnet]

This morning I went to pick up some second-hand MagSafe chargers from a local Craigslist listing and the seller offered to throw in a 2007 MacBook for €20. It was a little dirty but after a wipedown it seemed like the case was in pretty good condition.

To get an idea of its condition internally, I downloaded an old version of coconutbattery – turns out the battery is holding 100% of its original charge with only 34 charge cycles! But coconutBattery on OS X 10.6 won't tell you anything about how old the battery is, so I wasn't sure if it was the original battery that this MacBook came with.

Eventually I came across an app called MiniBatteryLogger that was developed in the OS X 10.4 days, and it provides more information on the battery's age. The battery was manufactured in January 2008, just like the machine itself! And with the Mac OS X install dating back to 2009 it seems like this MacBook has hardly been used after that time.

It's incredible to think that the battery hasn't aged all this time it's been sitting in a drawer. I figured you'd probably enjoy this unexpected find!

Some pictures:

That’s museum-level pristine. It’s a wonderful find.

As with @eyoungren , I never warmed to the A1181s personally, but it was their bridge to get more Macs in the hands of more new Mac users. Of the MacBooks, the only two to interest me, if I found them in a free pile or in pristine condition for a song, are the late 2008 A1278 unibody model and the A1342 white unibody model from 2010.

The latter, particularly, was a unicorn of good design. I can only imagine how well it may have done had they also produced a run of them in black polycarbonate (though use of carbon black infused in both the polycarbonate and the rubberized bottom plate could have played a complicating factor for why they chose not to, especially when weighing product life cycle analysis costs for end-of-life recycling and disposal).

Take very good care of that example and enjoy using it!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Very nice specimen I picked up a white 08 a few months ago. It was and still is kinda dirty but will clean up very nicely (when I get around to it alongside internal clean & repaste).

One weird thing between this early 08 a1181 and my late 08 unibody a1278 is that even though they use the same spec screen between the two, the a1181 screen seems duller to me which has to be the glass screen cover of the a1278 as they’re the same darn screen LOL.

Anyhow, very nice pickup. If I remember, I’ll post a before and after cleaning of mine as well

 

[TheShortTimer]

If I remember, I’ll post a before and after cleaning of mine as well

Please do!

 

[GMShadow]

Very nice specimen I picked up a white 08 a few months ago. It was and still is kinda dirty but will clean up very nicely (when I get around to it alongside internal clean & repaste).

One weird thing between this early 08 a1181 and my late 08 unibody a1278 is that even though they use the same spec screen between the two, the a1181 screen seems duller to me which has to be the glass screen cover of the a1278 as they’re the same darn screen LOL.

Anyhow, very nice pickup. If I remember, I’ll post a before and after cleaning of mine as well

The 1278 is LED backlit, the 1181 is still CCFL, so that's why the brightness difference.

I still have a 2010 in storage but it needs a battery and I haven't seen it as a big priority.

 

[weckart]

Congrats on finding a Crackbook that doesn't live down to the name. Mine is more typical - the top lid looks like a relief map of Europe now with lots of little statelets breaking away and seeking independence. My battery held out for years until I put it into storage then it swelled about the same time as my Santa Rosa MBP's battery put on weight. Luckily I spotted the danger signs before any lasting damage was done.

I did use the A1181 more than my MBP but always hated the way the feeble GPU choked on anything, especially Flash related, and it sent the fan roaring. Noisy and a tad too warm in use to be a laptop.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I did use the A1181 more than my MBP but always hated the way the feeble GPU choked on anything, especially Flash related, and it sent the fan roaring. Noisy and a tad too warm in use to be a laptop.

When I upgraded to the 2011 MBP, I expected to be free of the roaring fan and was soon dismayed to discover that its fan roared just as much.

 

[B S Magnet]

When I upgraded to the 2011 MBP, I expected to be free of the roaring fan and was soon dismayed to discover that its fan roared just as much.

Folks these days don’t realize how good they’ve got it!

When I was y’all’s age, our iBooks and Titanium PowerBook G4s had two fan speeds: “off” and “propeller aeroplane”!

 

[swamprock]

Folks these days don’t realize how good they’ve got it!

When I was y’all’s age, our iBooks and Titanium PowerBook G4s had two fan speeds: “off” and “propeller aeroplane”!

I don't think the TiBook has an off speed, even after repasting the CPU 🤣

 

[B S Magnet]

I don't think the TiBook has an off speed, even after repasting the CPU 🤣

It was the thing I despised about the Ti G4/400 I’d received in a trade (for my Yikes! 350): when the fan came on, it came on, all 2cm of it. It was clownishly tiny for what it was trying (ineffectively) to cool. It ran either full-bore, or off (again, I had the base model 400; it’s possible the fan-off function was removed for later revisions, such as the 667 or 1GHz models). That was a loud af fan. It was a big motivator (along with the somewhat nerve-wracking case flex when picking it up) to consign mine to file sever desktop duty whilst in uni.

Even when my aluminium PB G4s or MBP fans run at 6200 rpm, they’re basically a whisper relative to that Ti G4 fan (or whenever an iBook fan would kick on, especially when inside a library).

 

[Amethyst1]

Even when my aluminium PB G4s or MBP fans run at 6200 rpm, they’re basically a whisper relative to that Ti G4 fan […]

Ever heard a 12“ PB G4‘s fan blast off at 9000 rpm?

 

[B S Magnet]

Ever heard a 12“ PB G4‘s fan blast off at 9000 rpm?

Just before I turned my 1.5GHz into a donor, yes.

EDIT to add: It became a donor once it was clear the RAM bridge failure was not repairable when and I’d found a new use for the 12.1-inch LCD (in my first attempt at the XGA’ing of my key lime iBook, way back in 2018, prior to joining the MR forums).

 

[swamprock]

It was the thing I despised about the Ti G4/400 I’d received in a trade (for my Yikes! 350): when the fan came on, it came on, all 2cm of it. It was clownishly tiny for what it was trying (ineffectively) to cool. It ran either full-bore, or off (again, I had the base model 400; it’s possible the fan-off function was removed for later revisions, such as the 667 or 1GHz models). That was a loud af fan. It was a big motivator (along with the somewhat nerve-wracking case flex when picking it up) to consign mine to file sever desktop duty whilst in uni.

Even when my aluminium PB G4s or MBP fans run at 6200 rpm, they’re basically a whisper relative to that Ti G4 fan (or whenever an iBook fan would kick on, especially when inside a library).

From a cold boot on my 867 TiBook under OS 9.2.2 (off for more than 12 hours) with two fans, the main fan in the center-rear of the machine doesn't seem to kick in too hard unless you run something processor- or graphically- intensive. I'm just running iTunes right now, and it's ramping up just a bit, but not distractingly so. Firing up the visualizer and timing it, the fan ramps up to the "next level" (not full blast, but definitely noticeable now) after five minutes, with the secondary fan quiet. Turning off the visualizer but leaving iTunes open, the fan seems to stay at this level. I chalk that up to the processor being hot now as well as the GPU. Quitting iTunes doesn't change this, even after a few minutes.

In Tiger, the fan ramps up while booting, and stays running full-bore, even if I set the energy usage low. After a few minutes, the secondary fan kicks in. I'm going to replace the thermal pad on the GPU and repeat this experiment, but at a later date (gotta order the pad material). I'm considering a copper shim+thermal paste to see if it would improve the cooling.

Sorry. Drifted way off-topic.

But, back on topic- I have a pile of A1181s, in various states of repair and colors. I wanted one-each, perfect (relatively speaking) specimens of 2008 white and black Macbooks, and the A1181's are (currently) super-cheap, so I went crazy one day and bought a large pile of them in black and white. I now have my specimens with zero cracks in the cases, including an early 2009. Now I'm going to "oreo" my 2009 (black keys, black bezel, black clutch cover) rather than swap the board into my Blackbook, as was my original plan.

EDIT- see this post for the results of my "oreo-ing" job...

 

[Slix]

Very nice! I have a few of these that I've acquired over the years. Does the keyboard stink at all? Some of these seemed to have similar issues to the older iBook G3s with their stinky keyboards when they heated up. I do like the keyboard on these though! If they were backlit, it would be perfect I think.

 

[B S Magnet]

Now I'm going to "oreo" my 2009 (black keys, black bezel, black clutch cover) rather than swap the board into my Blackbook, as was my original plan.

Huh! I’ve always thought of the mix-and-matches of the A1181s as “pianoing”!


EDIT to ask: Humour me: why do y’all find what I said above to merit being funny? I can’t put my mind around thinking of jet-black and snow white polycarbonate, paired together, as anything other than resembling a piano, a synthesizer keyboard, or maybe something from Star Wars. I’m not sure why others consider this to be like an Oreo cookie, even in its original, brown-and-white variety — much less than the several dozens of flavours to emerge (ever since copying Hydrox). Cheers!

 

[rampancy]

Congrats indeed on your find! It's incredibly rare to find an A1181 with a largely pristine original Apple OEM battery (let alone one that actually holds a charge)...it's rarer still to find with so little topcase chipping. It's tempting to give it the old SSD/RAM upgrade treatment, but it'd be also fun to use it in its period-accurate configuration. You know, seeing your pictures inspired me to hit up Facebook Marketplace and try see if I could find another cheap A1181 to toy around with...

Now I'm going to "oreo" my 2009 (black keys, black bezel, black clutch cover) rather than swap the board into my Blackbook, as was my original plan.

EDIT- see this post for the results of my "oreo-ing" job...

It's quite fun to mix and match case parts from the black and white A1181 models; the cool thing is that with the right parts you can even make one sleek enough to fool observers into thinking it's a post-2009/2010 MacBook...