Late 2008 Unibody aluminum MacBook runs High Sierra decently

[WinkWink726]

That is the exact computer that I just replaced!
The 2008 Unibody 13"! Mine only had 2gigs and it was a potato with the update to El Capitan.
It is cosmetically perfect, as I keep my stuff covered with protective skins, but if I want to make it usable, I understand that I need to upgrade to the 8gigs that are it can be upgraded to.

I wonder if it would be worth it as a back up computer
Only about have of the storage was full!

 

[EugW]

That is the exact computer that I just replaced!
The 2008 Unibody 13"! Mine only had 2gigs and it was a potato with the update to El Capitan.
It is cosmetically perfect, as I keep my stuff covered with protective skins, but if I want to make it usable, I understand that I need to upgrade to the 8gigs that are it can be upgraded to.

I wonder if it would be worth it as a back up computer
Only about have of the storage was full!

To make it usable you need an SSD and 4 GB, but 8 GB is preferred.

 

[mrboult]

Thanks for the info EugW .

The 2008 Alu' MacBook is still my main computer. No one is more surprised than me about that, but it still works great for my needs. (The SSD upgrade 2years ago made soooo much difference)

Can I ask you to provide or link a little more information on how I install the unsupported OS on my
machine?

Many thanks.

 

[EugW]

Thanks for the info EugW .

The 2008 Alu' MacBook is still my main computer. No one is more surprised than me about that, but it still works great for my needs. (The SSD upgrade 2years ago made soooo much difference)

Can I ask you to provide or link a little more information on how I install the unsupported OS on my
machine?

Many thanks.

http://www.dosdude1.com/software.html

 

[Burnsey]

To make it usable you need an SSD and 4 GB, but 8 GB is preferred.

Not necessarily. I've got a 256GB Samsung EVO SSD in mine with only 2GB of ram and she runs El Capitan beautifully.

Compressed memory and SSD work really well.

 

[EugW]

Not necessarily. I've got a 256GB Samsung EVO SSD in mine with only 2GB of ram and she runs El Capitan beautifully.

Compressed memory and SSD work really well.

SSD with just 2 GB is still really annoying IMO.

 

[mrboult]

http://www.dosdude1.com/software.html

Thank you! I'll probably attempt this pretty soon.

 

[EugW]

The more I use this MacBook5,1 in High Sierra 10.13, the more I think it's a smoother experience than the MacBook4,1 in Lion 10.7.5, despite the fact that MacBook4,1 has a 20% faster CPU.

MacBook5,1 (Aluminum Unibody Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz P7350 (25 W)
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
nVidia GeForce 9400M 256 MB
128 GB Kingston V+100 SSD

MacBook4,1 (White Early 2008)
Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz T8300 (35 W)
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2
Intel GMA X3100 144 MB
128 GB Kingston V+100 SSD

I'm not entirely sure why this is the case, but I suspect is a combination of factors. MacBook5,1 has a much faster GPU and perhaps the better GPU acceleration of the OS is helping, despite the slower CPU. It also has faster RAM, but that probably is only a minor difference. More important is probably the fact that Safari 11 is just that more optimized than Safari 6.1. BTW, the trackpad for MacBook5,1 is also way better. And I almost forgot. The 10.13 install has memory compression. The 10.7 install does not. However, I was testing with just one app open so that probably shouldn't matter.

P.S. For this old used MacBook Aluminum Unibody, I discovered the trackpad wasn't registering clicks 100% consistently in one spot. But it turns out it's a very easy fix. There is a trackpad tightness adjustment screw. It adjusts both click depth and click reliability. After a trial and error period of maybe 10 minutes trying different screw settings, I have now dialled in nicely. Best US$150 spent in a long time.

I just installed Neverware's CloudReady version of Chromium OS on this MacBook4,1. Even with a laptop hard drive it feels peppy again, and more importantly, it has support for at least one modern browser, that being Chrome of course. Even Adobe Flash and Netflix work. I've noticed occasional bugs with Netflix, but that's not a surprise since they only really started supporting Netflix a few months ago. (I've occasionally had bugs with OS X's Netflix on older machines using Silverlight, so it's kind of expected.) I also have a web version of MS Office, which is free from MS themselves. Video playback in YouTube also works well. I can't get network file shares to mount though, and vlc is pretty limited. The native video player in the OS does play h.264 video though.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-i-update-an-older-macbook.2095525/#post-25639744

To my surprise, Command-C and stuff like that works just like a Mac, AND Ctrl-C also works. I guess they wanted to have those coming from both Macs and PCs covered. Still, obviously Mac OS X 10.7.5 feels more Mac-like than Chromium on this early 2008 machine, but Chromium is actually more usable in many ways, despite being such a limited OS. OS X 10.7.5 is a flexible OS that stuck in the past, whereas Chromium is an OS that can only do a few things but does those reasonably well. For a surfing machine though, I prefer Chromium OS over 10.7.5.

https://www.neverware.com/

However, the late 2008 MacBook5,1 with High Sierra (or Sierra even El Capitan) in 2018 beats both easily, since it's a flexible machine with a modern OS.

 

[jav6454]

Slapping an SSD does wonders for this Mac. Although I think come next OSX version, the Late-2008 Macs won’t be supported.

 

[seitsme]

hello again. i have a question as i as stuck in installation from a bootable usb with mavericks on it for my macbook late 2009.

i managed to make the usb bootable after many hours waiting with a DD command- terminal...

now i can boot from it, i want to ask you if i install on my HDD running osx 10.6.x
will this installer format my mac and loose some data from it ?

if yes, do you advise me to make a partition on the HDD 250gb i have and install in the partition and what format should i make it to be bootable
also.

i want to install mavericks and see if itunes will allow me to download high sierra from the shop. otherwise i will
do an external install from a friends high sierra, but also not sure what build is best to do a fresh install on both
hdd and ssd, the last is 120gb.

any advise is appreciated.

 

[ThunderBird8724]

Hello guys! Ive just got my macbook aluminum late 2008, upgraded it with sad and 8Gb of RAM. now its running mac os 10.11 perfectly, but I'm wondering about the temperature of your macs. How hot it should be? What temps are normal when playing youtube videos and making everyday stuff. Ive already cleaned it and also changed thermal paste on it. thank every one for reply.

 

[seitsme]

...I'm wondering about the temperature of your macs. ...Ive already cleaned it and also changed thermal paste on it. thank every one for reply.

may i ask what maker is the paste or model. i want to change my late mbc 2009 paste as well. i see some increase in fan speeds and i think is the paste first of all.

 

[DeltaMac]

I like Arctic Silver.

 

[ThunderBird8724]

may i ask what maker is the paste or model. i want to change my late mbc 2009 paste as well. i see some increase in fan speeds and i think is the paste first of all.

I've used Zalman STG-2, but next week won't to try Arctic Cooling MX-4

 

[MauriceG]

The more I use this MacBook5,1 in High Sierra 10.13, the more I think it's a smoother experience than the MacBook4,1 in Lion 10.7.5, despite the fact that MacBook4,1 has a 20% faster CPU.

MacBook5,1 (Aluminum Unibody Late 2008)
Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz P7350 (25 W)
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
nVidia GeForce 9400M 256 MB
128 GB Kingston V+100 SSD

MacBook4,1 (White Early 2008)
Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz T8300 (35 W)
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2
Intel GMA X3100 144 MB
128 GB Kingston V+100 SSD

I'm not entirely sure why this is the case, but I suspect is a combination of factors. MacBook5,1 has a much faster GPU and perhaps the better GPU acceleration of the OS is helping, despite the slower CPU. It also has faster RAM, but that probably is only a minor difference. More important is probably the fact that Safari 11 is just that more optimized than Safari 6.1. BTW, the trackpad for MacBook5,1 is also way better. And I almost forgot. The 10.13 install has memory compression. The 10.7 install does not. However, I was testing with just one app open so that probably shouldn't matter.

P.S. For this old used MacBook Aluminum Unibody, I discovered the trackpad wasn't registering clicks 100% consistently in one spot. But it turns out it's a very easy fix. There is a trackpad tightness adjustment screw. It adjusts both click depth and click reliability. After a trial and error period of maybe 10 minutes trying different screw settings, I have now dialled in nicely. Best US$150 spent in a long time.

[doublepost=1520881520][/doublepost]Just a thought (and some experience). Have you cheched the SATA mode for the SSD? I experienced problems with that brand SSD (caused by chipset incompatibilit). SSD is capable of Sata 3 but always in sata 1 mode. And macbook (white 5,1) supports sata 2. This is a known issue. No problems with Samsung Ssd. This could make a big difference in performance.

 

[EugW]

Just a thought (and some experience). Have you cheched the SATA mode for the SSD? I experienced problems with that brand SSD (caused by chipset incompatibilit). SSD is capable of Sata 3 but always in sata 1 mode. And macbook (white 5,1) supports sata 2. This is a known issue. No problems with Samsung Ssd. This could make a big difference in performance.

This Kingston V+100 drive works fine with my SATA II Macs at SATA II, including in my aluminum MacBook5,1 and MacBookPro5,5. The SSD uses a Toshiba controller. You just need the latest firmware updates for the Macs. Note that the Kingston brand uses all sorts of different SSD controllers, so brand alone doesn't mean much.

However, I think MacBook4,1 is limited to SATA I, but not due to a chipset incompatibility, just because the machine doesn't support anything higher than SATA I. So yeah, that would have limited speed, but then again, the perceived speed isn't really limited that much by SATA I since the drive is quite slow to begin with, and because most of the perceived speed is due to random speeds, which is much slower than even SATA I speeds. I suspect the reason MacBook5,1 feels faster is mainly because Safari in 10.13 is in fact much faster than Safari in 10.7, and also because MacBook5,1 has better GPU acceleration. Also, Safari's autoplay blocking in 10.13 is great. Check out my Safari benchmarks here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-high-sierra-decently.2068596/#post-25067629

There is no such thing as white MacBook5,1 BTW.

 

[hipsheik]

I went from whichever Safari version was on Mountain Lion, to Safari 11 on El Capitan, and it is way faster.

A totally different browsing experience.

I would've done the upgrade much earlier if I had known. I'm running on a 2009 Macbook 5,2.

 

[EugW]

I went from whichever Safari version was on Mountain Lion, to Safari 11 on El Capitan, and it is way faster.

A totally different browsing experience.

I would've done the upgrade much earlier if I had known. I'm running on a 2009 Macbook 5,2.

Yep. Night vs day speed difference going from Lion to High Sierra. High Sierra is way faster.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-high-sierra-decently.2068596/#post-25067629

People talk about older OS versions being faster. While that is true in some ways, it is definitely not the case for surfing speed.

 

[east85]

Something I have not seen suggested here, but if you go into accessibility in System Preferences you can disable transparency to help speed up fluid animations like multitasking on extended displays, etc.

I noticed a pretty big difference in performance by disabling transparency while using a Cinema Display (also upgraded to 8gb/ssd) but on El Capitan. I imagine this might make a difference on Sierra as well if you tend to push the gpu with more than one display.. maybe worth checking out.

 

[OriginalMacBabe]

I have an aluminum unibody mbp5,1 8G 2T hybrid drive running 10.11.6 with some lag, but reasonably trouble free. App Store keeps prompting me to install High Sierra. I've read this thread, but I'm confused by this discussion that now says I need a patched version.

1. Is there going to be an improvement if I upgrade? What are my risks?
2. Why do I want to the patched version instead of the Apple download?

Tx

 

[EugW]

I have an aluminum unibody mbp5,1 8G 2T hybrid drive running 10.11.6 with some lag, but reasonably trouble free. App Store keeps prompting me to install High Sierra. I've read this thread, but I'm confused by this discussion that now says I need a patched version.

1. Is there going to be an improvement if I upgrade? What are my risks?
2. Why do I want to the patched version instead of the Apple download?

Tx

Native version is not supported on MBP5,1. Need a patched version. The App Store shouldn't be prompting you to install it.

The benefit of High Sierra is new features and longer security and Safari updates. Whether you need/want them is up to you.

 

[Izzycuig]

I posted this in the unsupported Macs for High Sierra thread, but I thought some of you might appreciate it here.

I picked up a used MacBook5,1 - late 2008 unibody aluminum 2.0 GHz - for cheap. Installed 4 GB RAM and SSD I happened to have, and it actually runs High Sierra (installed with a patched installer) reasonably well. Page rendering can be slow at times, but otherwise it's reasonable. Safari 11's auto-play blocking makes for a more pleasant and faster surfing experience. Office 2011 also runs reasonably on it. I didn't bother installing Photoshop CS6, because for very basic usage, Photos 3 is sufficient. Photos 3 gets a fair upgrade in High Sierra.

I should note that the machine came with 2 GB RAM and a HD, and it was totally unusable with its Yosemite install. Beachballs ALL THE TIME. It was complete crap, impossible to do anything productive, or even surf. 4 GB RAM and SSD made all the difference. Along with the hardware upgrades, now that we have a modern OS on it, I suspect we'll be able to get a good several years out of the machine, as a secondary surfing, Netflix, email, and recipe machine. My 8 GB + SSD 2.26 GHz machine is better obviously, but 4 GB is OK, as long as you have SSD.

View attachment 718615

Don't be afraid of High Sierra my friends. Cheers!

[doublepost=1531418672][/doublepost]Please would you be so kind to let me know where I can get hold of that patched installer? I would love to rund High Sierra on the same Mac model you are mentioning. Mine has an upgrade to 8GB and a 500GB SSD. I would love to keep using my 10-year old Mac. I don´t see the need to buy a new MacBook.

 

[EugW]

Please would you be so kind to let me know where I can get hold of that patched installer? I would love to rund High Sierra on the same Mac model you are mentioning. Mine has an upgrade to 8GB and a 500GB SSD. I would love to keep using my 10-year old Mac. I don´t see the need to buy a new MacBook.

The info is in that thread I mentioned:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-high-sierra-10-13-unsupported-macs-thread.2048478/

 

[d4gli]

Even running 5,1 macbook unibody with 2Ghz and 8 GB @1067 MHz DDR3. Love this one, makes after 10 years still a good view with it's connected 27" aplle cinema display. Love it, it never leaves me alone - working hard; 8-10hours a days for about 10 years! ATM running @ High Sierra and as far as i saw, @dosdude1 patched it already for Yosemite. Maybe we'll get another few years. Almost using just the terminal, mail app, safari - that's all - 95% of my work is done with terminal. This book was probably my life's best deal. Only problem - h.264 with 720p will make it stress; mostly even 480p @youtube is enough for it.

 

[EugW]

I just installed Neverware's CloudReady version of Chromium OS on this MacBook4,1. Even with a laptop hard drive it feels peppy again, and more importantly, it has support for at least one modern browser, that being Chrome of course. Even Adobe Flash and Netflix work. I've noticed occasional bugs with Netflix, but that's not a surprise since they only really started supporting Netflix a few months ago. (I've occasionally had bugs with OS X's Netflix on older machines using Silverlight, so it's kind of expected.) I also have a web version of MS Office, which is free from MS themselves. Video playback in YouTube also works well. I can't get network file shares to mount though, and vlc is pretty limited. The native video player in the OS does play h.264 video though.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/can-i-update-an-older-macbook.2095525/#post-25639744

To my surprise, Command-C and stuff like that works just like a Mac, AND Ctrl-C also works. I guess they wanted to have those coming from both Macs and PCs covered. Still, obviously Mac OS X 10.7.5 feels more Mac-like than Chromium on this early 2008 machine, but Chromium is actually more usable in many ways, despite being such a limited OS. OS X 10.7.5 is a flexible OS that stuck in the past, whereas Chromium is an OS that can only do a few things but does those reasonably well. For a surfing machine though, I prefer Chromium OS over 10.7.5.

https://www.neverware.com/

However, the late 2008 MacBook5,1 with High Sierra (or Sierra even El Capitan) in 2018 beats both easily, since it's a flexible machine with a modern OS.

For the old white early 2008 MacBook4,1, I switched to Ubuntu Linux instead. There were too many limitations to using Chrome OS. Fine for surfing and light Office though.

Even running 5,1 macbook unibody with 2Ghz and 8 GB @1067 MHz DDR3. Love this one, makes after 10 years still a good view with it's connected 27" aplle cinema display. Love it, it never leaves me alone - working hard; 8-10hours a days for about 10 years! ATM running @ High Sierra and as far as i saw, @dosdude1 patched it already for Yosemite. Maybe we'll get another few years. Almost using just the terminal, mail app, safari - that's all - 95% of my work is done with terminal. This book was probably my life's best deal. Only problem - h.264 with 720p will make it stress; mostly even 480p @youtube is enough for it.

You mean patched Mojave? Yosemite is fully supported on the 2.0 GHz aluminum MacBook5,1. I'm not sure I'll run Mojave because it doesn't work 100% right on these machines. There are some minor UI glitches which granted aren't a big deal but nonetheless reinforce that the machine isn't running a supported OS. Dark mode looks cool and mitigates some of the glitches, but I find on a non-Retina screen, dark mode text can be a bit annoying to read. High Sierra doesn't have dark mode, but it runs on the MacBook5,1 as if it's a fully supported machine. Almost nobody would know it's not officially supported just using the OS... which isn't a surprise, since it's basically the same hardware as the fully supported white 2009 MacBook6,1. Anyhow, here's a screengrab of my MacBook5,1 running Mojave.

I'll reassess Mojave after it's officially out and after a few point updates. The good news though is Mojave performance is just fine on the MacBook5,1 2.0 GHz, and the rare h.264 video bug (eg. on the iPhone X page) is fixed, as you can see from my screen grab. In High Sierra, that X in the background would have a stair-step appearance in the colours, not the nice gradient in colours you can see in the screengrab.

As for "stress" playing HD h.264 video, yeah I've noticed the MacBook5,1 2.0 GHz can have a little trouble gettings video started, stuttering initially. It's most noticeable with YouTube. However, once it's playing, it's fine. Multitasking would be problematic though. Note though that this has nothing to do with High Sierra. More to do with the slow CPU.

OTOH, my 2.26 GHz MacBookPro5,5 does noticeably better in this regard. Even though h.264 playback is mostly hardware accelerated on the GPU, I guess that extra 13% CPU speed helps enough to get it over that performance threshold, cuz the GPU and memory are identical between MacBook5,1 and MacBookPro5,5. The CPUs themselves are identical too, besides the clock speed. Same feature set and same generation, with same cache amount. The stuttering getting started playing a video is much less pronounced on the MacBookPro5,5 2.26 GHz.