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I’m now collecting vintage Intel MacBook Pros

Mr. Dee

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 4, 2003
5,990
12,840
Jamaica
So far I have purchased two first generation Intel MacBook Pro’s. Both are A1150’s one Core Duo and the other Core 2 Duo. I have also picked up a compatible power adapter, a set of Tiger restore discs and a Leopard retail DVD to configure both separately with respective versions of OS X. They did cost quite a bit and shows that early Intel models are slowly entering the sort after market. With Apple sun setting the architecture in its Mac product line, this will be a unique part of the products history to document and play with.

I am working on building a YouTube channel that explores the past 20 years of the Apple notebook line. I have a PowerBook G3 with Mac OS 10.0 but don’t consider it to really be part of the ancestry since it’s more old world. So I am trying to source a really cheap PowerBook G4 Titanium so I can load 10.0 on there.

The aim really is to explore the portability of the operating system, from the G4 in 2001 to current day M1.

In the future I hope to start collecting unibody models such as a 2009, 2011 and then in a couple years when retina models get cheaper start collecting 2012 to 2015.
 
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Thanks for letting me know. I saw one on Craigslist and the one I currently have is a 500 MHz.
 
Mr. Dee said:
Thanks for letting me know. I saw one on Craigslist and the one I currently have is a 500 MHz.
Click to expand...
make sure you get the osx disc that will boot these Powerbooks etc, (as you didi)
my failure was reinstalling a certain lion release when the hard drive failed.
I'm getting everything  2012 i can find now as well.
 
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Mr. Dee said:
So far I have purchased two first generation Intel MacBook Pro’s. Both are A1150’s one Core Duo and the other Core 2 Duo. I have also picked up a compatible power adapter, a set of Tiger restore discs and a Leopard retail DVD to configure both separately with respective versions of OS X. They did cost quite a bit and shows that early Intel models are slowly entering the sort after market. With Apple sun setting the architecture in its Mac product line, this will be a unique part of the products history to document and play with.

I am working on building a YouTube channel that explores the past 20 years of the Apple notebook line. I have a PowerBook G3 with Mac OS 10.0 but don’t consider it to really be part of the ancestry since it’s more old world. So I am trying to source a really cheap PowerBook G4 Titanium so I can load 10.0 on there.

The aim really is to explore the portability of the operating system, from the G4 in 2001 to current day M1.

In the future I hope to start collecting unibody models such as a 2009, 2011 and then in a couple years when retina models get cheaper start collecting 2012 to 2015.
Click to expand...

Hell yeah, I look forward to your series! :)

It’s safe to say the final PowerBook G3, the Pismo (PowerBook3,1), is a bona fide New World Mac, and I think Lombard (PowerBook1,1, from 1999) also just barely makes it, as well. I use the PowerBook2,2 (a Rev. C clamshell iBook from 2000, which I’ve spoofed in Open Firmware to be “PowerBook3,1” to run the XGA display I added to it) as a daily driver running Tiger (its main duty of late: an IRC server).

Pretty much any of the Macs with the number-comma-number designation falls under New World.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
The original PowerBook G4 shipped before 10.0 was released, so any disc will work.
Click to expand...
Oh do i wish that was true My powerbook G4 needed Tiger 10.4.6 and would not boot with time machine.
when the hard rive failed, i installed a new one (back in 2009-10) and nothing happened.
the USB drive was not powerful enough to read the external Snow leopard thumb drive on the powerbook
in 2010 i purchased the install dicks on eBay and that were stretched and would not work
luckily i was refunded after sending video and photo to the seller an delay.
i moved across th country and left my powerbook behind hoping apple would invent a solution, which never happened.

yesterday is was looking for G4 powerbooks on eBay, only 2 worked and they were too much $ for the effort.
i might buy one if i see a comfortable deal in the future, they were nice laptops.
 
Nice, I have a Late 2006 MacBook Pro (17" A1212) which I use daily for most tasks. These are truly the best designed computers I've ever used, much nicer than the Unibody's with glossy displays (still love Matte Unibody's) and maybe even the Titanium's.

It has 4GB of DDR2 and a 240GB Kingston SSD inside running Mavericks and soon Linux (most likely Fedora).
 
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MBAir2010 said:
Oh do i wish that was true My powerbook G4 needed Tiger 10.4.6 and would not boot with time machine.
when the hard rive failed, i installed a new one (back in 2009-10) and nothing happened.
the USB drive was not powerful enough to read the external Snow leopard thumb drive on the powerbook
in 2010 i purchased the install dicks on eBay and that were stretched and would not work
luckily i was refunded after sending video and photo to the seller an delay.
i moved across th country and left my powerbook behind hoping apple would invent a solution, which never happened.

yesterday is was looking for G4 powerbooks on eBay, only 2 worked and they were too much $ for the effort.
i might buy one if i see a comfortable deal in the future, they were nice laptops.
Click to expand...
The earliest Aluminum-G4 PowerBooks came with 10.2.3 and the latest 15"DLSD with 10.4.
Leopard is the latest OSX-version to run on PowerPC, so trying to install SL will never work.
You may look for OSX Tiger or Leopard at Macintoshgardn and hopefully get your PB working again!
 
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bobesch said:
The earliest Aluminum-G4 PowerBooks came with 10.2.3 and the latest 15"DLSD with 10.4.
Leopard is the latest OSX-version to run on PowerPC, so trying to install SL will never work.
You may look for OSX Tiger or Leopard at Macintoshgardn and hopefully get your PB working again!
Click to expand...
trashed that in 2015
 
i have a 2.16ghz 2007 white macbook. I have it maxed out with 4gb ram and ssd. It's currently running snow leopard. I love it, and the best thing about it is, *no cracks*. I bought it sight unseen on amazon like 5 years ago for $105. the ad said it was in "acceptable" condition and it came and it is literally almost perfect.
 
bobesch said:
The earliest Aluminum-G4 PowerBooks came with 10.2.3 and the latest 15"DLSD with 10.4.
Leopard is the latest OSX-version to run on PowerPC, so trying to install SL will never work.
You may look for OSX Tiger or Leopard at Macintoshgardn and hopefully get your PB working again!
Click to expand...

Ahem!

1639634699862.png
 
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Mr. Dee said:
I am working on building a YouTube channel that explores the past 20 years of the Apple notebook line. I have a PowerBook G3 with Mac OS 10.0 but don’t consider it to really be part of the ancestry since it’s more old world. So I am trying to source a really cheap PowerBook G4 Titanium so I can load 10.0 on there.
Click to expand...
Cool. However, if it matters to you, it would be cheaper and perhaps easier to get an iBook in good condition for 10.0. TiBooks suffer the peeling paint issue.

Mr. Dee said:
The aim really is to explore the portability of the operating system, from the G4 in 2001 to current day M1.

In the future I hope to start collecting unibody models such as a 2009, 2011 and then in a couple years when retina models get cheaper start collecting 2012 to 2015.
Click to expand...
If you get say a 2012 with minor scratches and dents as well as some screen delamination (which can be "fixed" with a microfibre cloth and mouthwash), they are under US$200. And the 2015 in good condition is actually current, very usable, and also relatively inexpensive. However, I guess it depends on your specific budget. If you're waiting for say the $100 price point, then it might be a few years.

BTW, I've been collecting all the OS X / macOS releases ever since the beginning. However, I don't have the 10.0 beta, and my 10.1 is machine specific. I do have 10.2 and 10.3, but they're on install CDs, so they span multiple discs. If I wanted to archive these, would I just use Disk Utility as usual?

For everything since then, I have them archived.

macOS versions archived.png
 
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EugW said:
However, if it matters to you, it would be cheaper and perhaps easier to get an iBook in good condition for 10.0.
Click to expand...
10.0 runs terribly on G3s. It needs a G4 (and lots of RAM) to be "usable". It is still a nightmare to use regardless of the machine but putting it on a G3 is nuts.

EugW said:
However, I don't have the 10.0 beta,
Click to expand...
If you're not keen on having it on a genuine CD, ISOs of both 10.0 Public Beta builds (yes, there are two) are out there. Same goes for the four 10.0 Developer Previews and Mac OS X Server 1.x.

EugW said:
I do have 10.2 and 10.3, but they're on install CDs, so they span multiple discs. If I wanted to archive these, would I just use Disk Utility?
Click to expand...
That's how I've been doing it.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
10.0 runs terribly on G3s. It needs a G4 (and lots of RAM) to be "usable". It is still a nightmare to use regardless of the machine but putting it on a G3 is nuts.
Click to expand...
10.1 ran fine on my G3 600 iBook but I guess 10.0 is a lot slower? All I remember is my friend had 10.0 on his iBook 500 and it ran tolerably well, at least just for the 15 minutes I tried it... But that was 20 years ago. How bad is it compared to 10.1?

I can't remember if we had 384 MB or 640 MB of RAM, but it definitely wasn't the 128 MB base.
 
EugW said:
10.1 ran fine on my G3 600 iBook but I guess 10.0 is a lot slower?
Click to expand...
I had it on a iBook G3/600 (actually a 500 but it was overclocked when I got it, which also caused the clock to run too fast LOL) with 576 MB RAM and it was a slug.
10.1 was noticeably faster but it wasn’t until 10.3 that it got “pleasantly” fast IMHO.
 
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Amethyst1 said:
I had it on a iBook G3/600 (actually a 500 but it was overclocked when I got it, which also caused the clock to run too fast LOL) with 576 MB RAM and it was a slug.
10.1 was noticeably faster but it wasn’t until 10.3 that it got “pleasantly” fast IMHO.
Click to expand...
I'd say for a 'good' G3, Jaguar runs really well, thought it also depends on memory, disk... I agree that Panther was the first "like Classic Mac OS speed" OS X release.
 
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I don’t mind the smell. Gives it character.
Let me know if it bothers you and want to get rid of your machine.
In seriousness though I have that issue even appearing now on my “newest” portables from Apple. A 2010 15” MBP.
 
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philgxxd said:
Let me know if it bothers you and want to get rid of your machine.
Click to expand...
No chance ... ?
I have only one translucent iBook G3 Snow. Got it even in the original box /w original equippment.
I really like it's style and it's a great machine for booting into os9. (nose adapts after some time ... ?)
Case is pretty sturdy and screen is great compared to the Clamshells, but the screen of the TiBook beats them all.

And you are right about smelly MBPs: the mid2012 15" MBP9,1 also starts to get's a touch of a funny scent. ?
 
bobesch said:
And you are right about smelly MBPs: the mid2012 15" MBP9,1 also starts to get's a touch of a funny scent. ?
Click to expand...

Really? I haven't experienced that with mine. Nor any of my other MBPs for that matter - and for which I'm quite thankful.

Although the keyboards of my Dual USB iBook G3's unoquivocably exhibit the characteristic aroma. :D
 
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