Installing Lion on older MBP

[RestUnknown]

I own a MBP (pre-unibody model) for over 12 years now I think.

I occasionaly still use it for certain purposes. It currently is installed with El Capitan I believe, but it's actually too taxing for the laptop.

My plan is to format and install Lion on it. I do believe I still have the cd that came with it. But I removed the cd player from it. Is Lion currently available as a free download or is my only solution to reinstall the cd player and go with the cd's to reinstall it?

 

[CoastalOR]

I own a MBP (pre-unibody model) for over 12 years now I think.

I occasionaly still use it for certain purposes. It currently is installed with El Capitan I believe, but it's actually too taxing for the laptop.

My plan is to format and install Lion on it. I do believe I still have the cd that came with it. But I removed the cd player from it. Is Lion currently available as a free download or is my only solution to reinstall the cd player and go with the cd's to reinstall it?

Lion is available as a download from Apple, but it is not free. After purchase, Apple will email you a code to use to download it from the App Store.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106/os-x-lion