Is there any point to keep MBP 2010 17"

[hajime]

Hi, I wonder if I should sell it at around $300-350 or just keep it. Often jet engine noise, battery cannot hold charge for more than an hour, screws at the bottom felt down and lost, two rubber cushions at the bottom were lost due to heat melting the glue. It is functional but stressful to use when jet engine noise come up and the battery lost charge without keeping the machine plugged in.

One possibe reason could be that if I need to make a Hackintosh, I may need it to make Mac OS.

 

[DeltaMac]

If it works, and you have some possible use for it, and it does that OK, and is perhaps your only choice to do that job, then, yes, keep it.
Don't lose the power adapter.

I have an older MacBook (2008) that I keep around, basically as a partner to answer quick trivia questions about the television shows that I like to watch. It sometimes sits unused for several weeks, but I can just turn it on without moving my lazy butt out of the chair. Works for me, battery died about 3 years ago, so it is not portable, but it serves my needs. I gave it a small SSD a few months ago. Found that I can get a 120GB SSD for less than $20 now. All it needs is a system, and a couple of apps, so that's it for me.
But, you have a good use for your Mac. Sometimes working with Mac software, making a bootable installer, etc, is easier to do on a "real" Mac.

 

[EugW]

How much of a DIYer are you?

The screws and the rubber feet can be bought off eBay, and sometimes cleaning out the fan and/or replacing the heatsink's thermal compound will reduce the fan noise significantly. The battery can also be replaced.

- My 2009 MacBookPro5,5 developed weird fan noise which was eliminated with a fan replacement. Works great in High Sierra (with a patch) with 8 GB RAM and SSD.
- My 2008 MacBook4,1 became much quieter under load once I cleaned out the fan and replaced the thermal compound. Unfortunately, it's obsolete for macOS.

 

[hajime]

How much of a DIYer are you?

The screws and the rubber feet can be bought off eBay, and sometimes cleaning out the fan and/or replacing the heatsink's thermal compound will reduce the fan noise significantly. The battery can also be replaced.

- My 2009 MacBookPro5,5 developed weird fan noise which was eliminated with a fan replacement. Works great in High Sierra (with a patch) with 8 GB RAM and SSD.
- My 2008 MacBook4,1 became much quieter under load once I cleaned out the fan and replaced the thermal compound. Unfortunately, it's obsolete for macOS.

I am a Maker.

As suggested, I checked last year. It was quite clean and I reapplied thermal paste. No improvemand. I don'want to invest on this machine anymore. I just spent about 7K on a DIY PC. I am waiting for a new 15" 4K laptop that I hope Lenovo will announce in about a week. Screen of x1c6 is too small for me. I found that I don’t really need MacOS. The MBP line was excellent for my work but the new Apple took away every single aspects I need for work since 2016.

 

[makinao]

Have you done any upgrades? RAM? SSD?

 

[hajime]

Have you done any upgrades? RAM? SSD?

Done those already.

 

[rcappo]

I still use my 17' Mid-2010 as my main computer. I had to replace the fans a few years ago. Now I am trying to upgrade to OS even though Apple won't make it easy.

 

[hajime]

Hi, the battery life is very bad (about 20 minutes without plugging into the AC adapter) and today even I have it plugged in and the machine is idle for over half an hour, it is still at 22%. Most of the time even it states that it has over 10% battery life, it shuts down by itself. Does that mean it is dying soon? Even with thermal repaste, most of the time it is jet engine like. I am not going to invest on this machine. Any point to keep it given the current situation? If I build a Hackintosh, do I need to have a real Mac to get the software? I recall that in the past, somebody mentioned that a real Mac is needed to get the software but I think somebody here also mentioned that a real Mac is not needed.

 

[Webster's Mac]

Hi, I wonder if I should sell it at around $300-350 or just keep it. Often jet engine noise, battery cannot hold charge for more than an hour, screws at the bottom felt down and lost, two rubber cushions at the bottom were lost due to heat melting the glue. It is functional but stressful to use when jet engine noise come up and the battery lost charge without keeping the machine plugged in.

One possibe reason could be that if I need to make a Hackintosh, I may need it to make Mac OS.

The "jet engine" noise can be solved by popping off that bottom cover and cleaning the fans with compressed air. Trust me...it helps a lot! If the high temps and loud fans continue...time for a thermal paste replacement. If you've never worked on a MacBook before, this would be a great machine to practice on since you're considering getting rid of it anyway.

Batteries are cheap as well. I get those eBay "OEM" batteries...but be careful when buying those. Only buy from sellers with high feedback and find batteries where the product feedback is 100%, as well. Or, buy an aftermarket battery on Amazon. There's usually several on there that get good reviews.

A new battery, a good cleaning of the fans, some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste, and maybe an SSD and some RAM, would go a long way in making that machine quiet, fast, and run for a while on battery. It would feel like a whole new machine.

I love fixing up old MacBook Pros. I've got a 2006 17" MacBook Pro, Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, mid 2010 Macbook, an early 2013 rMBP 13", etc in addition to my mid 2015 15" rMBP. I usually get them cheap and fix them up. I loan them out to friends if needed and keep them around in my collection. It's a fun hobby haha

 

[hajime]

The "jet engine" noise can be solved by popping off that bottom cover and cleaning the fans with compressed air. Trust me...it helps a lot! If the high temps and loud fans continue...time for a thermal paste replacement. If you've never worked on a MacBook before, this would be a great machine to practice on since you're considering getting rid of it anyway.

Batteries are cheap as well. I get those eBay "OEM" batteries...but be careful when buying those. Only buy from sellers with high feedback and find batteries where the product feedback is 100%, as well. Or, buy an aftermarket battery on Amazon. There's usually several on there that get good reviews.

A new battery, a good cleaning of the fans, some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste, and maybe an SSD and some RAM, would go a long way in making that machine quiet, fast, and run for a while on battery. It would feel like a whole new machine.

I love fixing up old MacBook Pros. I've got a 2006 17" MacBook Pro, Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, mid 2010 Macbook, an early 2013 rMBP 13", etc in addition to my mid 2015 15" rMBP. I usually get them cheap and fix them up. I loan them out to friends if needed and keep them around in my collection. It's a fun hobby haha

But the fans have been cleaned and thermal repaste have been done as mentioned before.

 

[Webster's Mac]

But the fans have been cleaned and thermal repaste have been done as mentioned before.

Do they spin to full speed as soon as you power on the machine, or does it take a few minutes for them to spin up? If they go full blast as soon as you power it on, I'd reset the SMC. If it takes a little bit for them to spin up loud, then replace the thermal paste.