Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Macbook 2008 as secondary notebook, is it worth it?
- Thread starter Razer(x)
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I just need it to watch some football matches and tv series
Wondering if i should buy it or a more recent normal notebook
Gav2k
macrumors G3
If it's flash based content don't bother the old c2d's heat up a fair amount and will sound like it's ready to take off.
BrettApple
macrumors 65816
What Gav2k said. Especially Early 2008 and earlier as they have the Intel GMA X3100 or worse, the GMA950. If you are going to go with an '08 at least get the Late 2008 with the 9400m, it will still be able to play HD flash videos at a reasonable frame-rate. I own both, so I should know 🙂
Even then, something with an i5/HD3000+ would be a better bet but now you're looking 2011 and up.
My Early '08 MacBook is locked in on Snow Leopard and Windows 10 (which runs quite well) with an SSD. It's a great backup laptop for office work and browsing around, but not so much for streaming HD content. The Late 2008 is on El Capitan with an SSD + 8GB RAM and it still runs beautifully.
If you just want something on your TV, you'd be better off with an Chromecast/ATV/Fire stick etc. They're more purpose built and much more efficient.
Even then, something with an i5/HD3000+ would be a better bet but now you're looking 2011 and up.
My Early '08 MacBook is locked in on Snow Leopard and Windows 10 (which runs quite well) with an SSD. It's a great backup laptop for office work and browsing around, but not so much for streaming HD content. The Late 2008 is on El Capitan with an SSD + 8GB RAM and it still runs beautifully.
If you just want something on your TV, you'd be better off with an Chromecast/ATV/Fire stick etc. They're more purpose built and much more efficient.
Yaboze
macrumors 6502a
I'll throw in my 2c.
I have a 2007 MB that is running Snow Leopard. It runs well for what it is, but there's not any real updates for the OS anymore. Safari, iTunes are old, etc. You can run Chrome, but Chrome is dropping support for older versions of OSX, which means you are stuck because the latest one you can run is Lion (I believe) and that is on the list to be dropped.
Without even the latest browser updates (unless you run Firefox), it's pretty much a dead end these days.
I have a 2007 MB that is running Snow Leopard. It runs well for what it is, but there's not any real updates for the OS anymore. Safari, iTunes are old, etc. You can run Chrome, but Chrome is dropping support for older versions of OSX, which means you are stuck because the latest one you can run is Lion (I believe) and that is on the list to be dropped.
Without even the latest browser updates (unless you run Firefox), it's pretty much a dead end these days.
kaiju_wars
macrumors member
It's an early-2008 MacBook? I would say unless you just want a black MacBook because they are cool, or just because you are a collector, to not go for it. At least for your needs. (Unless you want to install Windows or Ubuntu on it, in which case it will work perfect.)
If you absolutely must have a MacBook though, I'd say go with late 2008 and up. If you get an aluminum MacBook from 2008 with the 2.4 Ghz C2D, I can tell you it will work just fine.
If you absolutely must have a MacBook though, I'd say go with late 2008 and up. If you get an aluminum MacBook from 2008 with the 2.4 Ghz C2D, I can tell you it will work just fine.
