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How many people still using MacBook (any model)?

macbethfan said:
I just updated my 08 Blackbook (i've had it since 2009) and I pretty much gave this thing a new life. I highly recommend the Crucial M500, even though you'll only get SATA 1 speeds out of it. This thing boots in 20-25 seconds now. Also, if you can afford it, I'd skip the 4GB of RAM and go straight for 6GB. Stick with Snow Leopard. DO NOT put Lion on it. I did and had to revert back. I thought that with the SSD and the RAM upgrade that Lion would be faster, but it's not. Also, if you don't use the optical drive, I'd get a HD enclosure and put a secondary HD there to store all of your media and such. I'm not sure what you're purpose of this machine will be, but mine is my main computer since I can't afford a new MBP at the moment. The final repair I did for mine was a redo of the thermal paste. If you don't think you can do it yourself, you can, but it takes a lot of patience to get right. My CPU temp went from 180-190 degrees at it's peak before to 140-150 degrees now. My main purpose in doing this was to keep the fan from coming on full blast after opening one window in Chrome and iTunes at the same time. Hope this helps! Message me if you have any questions.
Click to expand...

I decided to go with 6GB ram instead of the 4 to avoid wanting to upgrade down the road. I've noticed a lot of users going with Crucial M500 SSD and I'm wondering if it performs better than OWC's or why it seems to be the proffered SSD over others. I also watched a video showing how to redo the thermal paste and it seems simple enough. I'm first going to work it hard and see what temps it runs at.
 
Black MacBook Still Alive

Thanks for starting this thread! My main laptop is a Mid-2007 Black MacBook, which I saved for all summer of 2013 and bought in early October of 2013 for $220. The machine is actually the first computer I ever purchased completely with my own money (I am 16, and I had parents help or relatives before). It is also my first ever Intel mac, as I have owned multiple resurrected PowerBooks and iBooks in the past ($40 gets you anywhere on ebay!). The machine is still in almost perfect condition, and I regularly get 4-5 hours of battery life out of it. It turns out it was a built-to-order machine, and it still has the original 200GB HD! I love the thing to death (In fact it is what I am writing on right now) and use it both in the classroom and at home. I later replaced the original 2GB of RAM and put in the max 4GB. I will most likely end up putting in a SSD so I can enable TRIM under Lion. The only complaints I have is the lacking graphics card (making it impossible to upgrade to Mountain Lion or above), and of course that damn Intel 945 chipset which limits it to only 4GB of RAM. I saw earlier in this thread that someone replaced their motherboard with an Early 2009 one in order to run Mavericks, and I am wondering if I might be able to do it with my machine as well? Also I may consider MLPostFactor as an option. Anyone have any success with these methods?
 
macbook late 2008 now zippy with upgrade

Thanks for this thread and contributions. Helped me salvage my mb from a failed hard drive. Upgraded from 4gb to 8gb of ram (crucial) and installed a Samsung evo 840 250gb ssd. Now the machine is better than new. Considering selling the mb now to put towards new (lighter) macbook pro but it works so good now, finding it hard to justify. Yes i have been using this as my main computer for 6 years. It's a very sound machine.
 
jdmar2004 said:
I decided to go with 6GB ram instead of the 4 to avoid wanting to upgrade down the road. I've noticed a lot of users going with Crucial M500 SSD and I'm wondering if it performs better than OWC's or why it seems to be the proffered SSD over others. I also watched a video showing how to redo the thermal paste and it seems simple enough. I'm first going to work it hard and see what temps it runs at.
Click to expand...

Great question, I've been researching this because my 2008 unibody MacBook needs some life as well. Here is what I have found:

1) Price. Crucial is cheaper.

2) Speed. Jury seems out. Some say the OWC is optimized for SATA II and thus faster, others say that is BS.

I will likely pick up the OWC because you can buy a kit that has tools, the drive, and a hard drive enclosure for around 170 (the 240gb model). It also has fantastic reviews in terms of customer service. I don't mind paying some extra cash for better service down the road if necessary (note: I am an Applecare buyer….)
 
I just put a 500GB Samsung EVO SSD into my late 2009 Macbook. Runs great, I'm very happy with it. This definitely extended the life of my laptop.
 
In the end I decided to go with the Crucial M500 and 6GB ram from OWC. I could've probably got away with 4 but I tend to agree that it's best to have more than not enough. I didn't think the speed difference between the two SSD's would be noticeable though and that's why I went the cheaper route. I've got $330 total including the macbook into it and I'm definitely pleased. I'm mainly using this macbook to burn my dvd collection and burn some old family VHS's onto DVD's bc software needed wasn't compatible with Mavericks. I'm debating whether or not I should sell it though after my little project. If I do sell it then the money will go towards a new MBA for the wife and I'll use our current 13" 09 MBP to fiddle around with at work. Parting with it will be difficult bc I love the black look but I figure sell it quick so I get my money back.
 
jdmar2004 said:
In the end I decided to go with the Crucial M500 and 6GB ram from OWC.
Click to expand...

Don't forget to download Trim Enabler (free), and select your new SSD as the startup disk in the System Preferences. If you don't select it, your Macbook will take longer to boot as its not sure what the startup disk should be.
 
Although not my main machine, i have the white late 2009 needs a new battery but since i do not carry it I use it of the charger. Glad to have one of them, never ever given me an issue. However my mbp and retinas have given an issue here and there. At the end of the day I've a soft corner for the macbook guess ill keep it as long as its major parts last.
 
Finally got my SSD put in and I can see a drastic speed improvement. Looks like I won't be selling it after all.
 
Yeah I'm still running a MacBook 5,1 with the aluminum unibody and 2.4ghz core duo. Has the backlit keyboard and looks pretty much identical to the cMBP. The hard drive died in it so I went with an M4 (SSD) and it's been very good to me. Maxed out the RAM at 8GB and haven't ever bottlenecked the RAM or SSD with what I do. The overall physical condition is still pretty good, it looks mostly brand new. I did have to replace the feet on the bottom at one point and the clutch cover because it had fractures. Other than that this MacBook is pretty great for what I use it for.

With all that said the only time I will see a bottleneck will be with my CPU. It's a core duo so obviously it's not up to snuff, but when the CPU bottlenecks it's mainly due to Flash. I've remedied this by installing Click2Plugin on Safari. It automatically requests HTML5 on most videos and content available online. For YouTube I've gone here and enabled the HTML5 player. It's amazing how much more efficient HTML5 is, my fan doesn't even kick in on 1080p HTML5. Needless to say I'm glad Flash is slowly going out the window.
 
I still use Aluminium Macbook 2.0GHz since 2009. It does the work just fine, no urge to upgrade for now (expect Apple release a new 13" macbook air later this year i might reconsider).

Upgrade to 8GB in the second year.

Upgrade to 250GB SSD and move the HD to DVD drive last six month.

This is my main laptop and I use it frequently to code and doing word document. Research with many tabs, virtual machine, small photoshop project, etc is still good enough. It also run vanilla minecraft just fine with 85C temperature.

It is very slow when doing movie encoding though. I guess this is the barrier of my Mac. I don't do multimedia encoding task frequently though.

The only problem i found is excessive heat. It frequently reach 80C. Surprisingly, it never ever shutdown because of overheat. I am really impressed by this. My battery also already gave out, only holds 1:30 hours of charge, furthermore already swollen a little bit. I still cannot justify the $200 to change the battery, since the life of this laptop is not long anymore.

I have a $1k Windows PC that rarely used. Usually only used to play some games (on integrated graphics).
 
HIMAN1998 said:
No, I have a Late 2008 MacBook Unibody, which runs DDR3 RAM. I wish this model supported 16GB, could really use that sometimes... and also SATA 3.
Click to expand...

Aah, i thought your MB is 'white' :D
I'd change to Unibody if i have chance.
 
My main machine is my 2011 macbook pro 13 inch, but recently added a late 2006 13inch 1.83ghz white macbook to my mac collection. Came installed with its original os (Tiger) so i wiped it and installed snow leopard. It has a 100% dead battery which I may replace and 2gb of ram which I may bump up to 3gb.
 
CSCONTO1 said:
Thanks for starting this thread! My main laptop is a Mid-2007 Black MacBook, which I saved for all summer of 2013 and bought in early October of 2013 for $220. The machine is actually the first computer I ever purchased completely with my own money (I am 16, and I had parents help or relatives before). It is also my first ever Intel mac, as I have owned multiple resurrected PowerBooks and iBooks in the past ($40 gets you anywhere on ebay!). The machine is still in almost perfect condition, and I regularly get 4-5 hours of battery life out of it. It turns out it was a built-to-order machine, and it still has the original 200GB HD! I love the thing to death (In fact it is what I am writing on right now) and use it both in the classroom and at home. I later replaced the original 2GB of RAM and put in the max 4GB. I will most likely end up putting in a SSD so I can enable TRIM under Lion. The only complaints I have is the lacking graphics card (making it impossible to upgrade to Mountain Lion or above), and of course that damn Intel 945 chipset which limits it to only 4GB of RAM. I saw earlier in this thread that someone replaced their motherboard with an Early 2009 one in order to run Mavericks, and I am wondering if I might be able to do it with my machine as well? Also I may consider MLPostFactor as an option. Anyone have any success with these methods?
Click to expand...

The most you'll be able to do is Mountain Lion with MLPostfactor. No Mavericks (will never be stable on a GMA), but I hightly recommend MLPF!
 
I still use my 2010 white macbook as my main computer. Have a 256GB Crucial SSD in the main bay, and a 750gb HD in the Optical Drive bay, along with 8gb of RAM. Runs great and perfect for my needs.
 
I am still using my MacBook Alum 2008 as my media center.

I upgraded the RAM to 8GB and replaced the stock drive with WD 1TB HDD, it's been running smooth as baby seal ever since. I also hook it up to my 46" Samsung LED panel via Mini Display Port-to-HDMI adapter.
With wireless keyboard & track pad, no iMac can beat this!

But as of yesterday, it mysteriously stops recognizing all my USB DACs.

The plot thickens....
 
Using an early 2008 blackbook with a 2.4ghz Core 2, 2gb of ram and a 250gb hard drive. still an amazing computer.
 
Proudly still rocking my white early 2009 5,2. It's always been a beast (stacking up better than a 2011 Mac mini with 2x the ram) but now with a Crucial M500 it feels similar to my sisters new Air. For a computer with 2.13 processor and only 4gb of ram it has been worth every penny. I had to replace the screen over Christmas (started with flickering then a black mark began to work it's way up from the bottom right hand corner) which was an interesting 3 hours but worth it.
 
Still use my late '06 white MacBook 2,1 2GHz C2D with 2GB RAM that I bought new in January '07. Looks like new....

Replaced hard drive a few years ago to Seagate (I think..) 500GB HD.

Got white BookEndz docking station for it as I have it docked most of the time and it's connected to my 22" monitor and external keyboard/mouse. Part of the reason it's like new as I hardly use the MacBook open.

It is running OSX 10.7.5.

While it works well it does seem to work harder now to keep up with various tasks.

Can I use more RAM than 2GB on this MacBook?

Sounds like SSD is worthwhile upgrade from other comments posted.

I used to do architectural CAD/3D modeling/animation back about 10 years ago on my trusty ol G4 tower. But now I mostly do basic computing stuff; surfing, email, MS Office docs and spreadsheets, iPhoto, etc....

Debating whether to sell it and either

a) get a new or newer (ie, used, but not too old....) MacBook Pro or

b) upgrade this MacBook or

c) get one of the most recent MacBooks (and upgrade it?...)

Any thoughts about what to do?....

Appreciate any and all input!

Thanks.

Mark
 
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Can only say the HD/SSD is a Day and Night difference, do it if you stay with it!!

You can also load the App Mactracker for your mac, their you can see how many ram you can add!!


I switched on my 2008 Alu to a SSD and 8gb of Ram, running much better now.
The only thing which bothers me a bit is the cpu whine, but if the room isnt too quiet, its ok..
 
illadee said:
Can only say the HD/SSD is a Day and Night difference, do it if you stay with it!!
Click to expand...

Thanks...agree it sounds like a worthwhile upgrade...


You can also load the App Mactracker for your mac, their you can see how many ram you can add!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for suggestion....just checked crucial.com, and it shows 2GB as recommended...can check Mactracker later...


I switched on my 2008 Alu to a SSD and 8gb of Ram, running much better now.
The only thing which bothers me a bit is the cpu whine, but if the room isnt too quiet, its ok..
Click to expand...

I'm sure 8GB is great to have....as for the whine, are you sure it's cpu, not a fan noise?....
 
i think its the cpu for sure, mostly i found some things about this for the 2006models, dont know why, but i def. have this :(


If i open photobooth it goes away, same for when i got the iphone on the macbook, really strange..
The only solution is a lil app, for axample "quietmbp" but somehow i dont like it, seems the cpu also goes a lil bit hot.
 
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Still running on a 2008 (purchased in 09) Macbook Unibody. Love this thing: easy to upgrade/replace Ram, battery and hard drive. A shame they're phasing these designs out in favor of sealed machines. I may upgrade to the last run of unibody designs and then switch companies after that dies. I don't really like the direction Apple is heading and I've been with them for almost 30 years.
 
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