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Maccily

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2018
11
4
Online
I just got my Macbook 2,1 2.16ghz, but it just has Osx 10.6.8 and I don't know what to do to upgrade it to 10.7 or if it is even worth upgrading should I keep 10.6.8 Snow Leopard?
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,381
10,778
10.7.5 has a bit more software support, but both 10.6.8 and 10.7.5 are now both horribly out of date.
 

Maccily

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2018
11
4
Online
10.7.5 has a bit more software support, but both 10.6.8 and 10.7.5 are now both horribly out of date.

Yep, it seems so but my Macbook can only run 10.7 as the max OSX.

I think I am going stay with 10.6.8 as it still supports Rosetta, I am just coming from my Power PC with 10.5.8 so 10.6 is more familiar. Then there may be some Power PC apps I still want to run.
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,195
8,493
Colorado, USA
I just got my Macbook 2,1 2.16ghz, but it just has Osx 10.6.8 and I don't know what to do to upgrade it to 10.7 or if it is even worth upgrading should I keep 10.6.8 Snow Leopard?
On a MacBook 2,1, it's best to stick with Snow Leopard unless you've maxed-out the RAM and installed an SSD.
Yep, it seems so but my Macbook can only run 10.7 as the max OSX.

I think I am going stay with 10.6.8 as it still supports Rosetta, I am just coming from my Power PC with 10.5.8 so 10.6 is more familiar. Then there may be some Power PC apps I still want to run.
As a user of vintage Apple hardware, I recommend checking out the PowerPC section on this forum. Discussion of early Intel systems from 2006 or 2007 is welcome there as well.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,381
10,778
Yep, it seems so but my Macbook can only run 10.7 as the max OSX.

I think I am going stay with 10.6.8 as it still supports Rosetta, I am just coming from my Power PC with 10.5.8 so 10.6 is more familiar. Then there may be some Power PC apps I still want to run.
Do you KNOW you need to run some PowerPC apps, or are you thinking just in case?

Any other reason you are sticking with such an old machine? It should be noted that you can get pretty reasonable 2008-2011 machines for relatively cheap these days, and they can run modern software. Most can run High Sierra, which will be "modern" for several years.
 

Maccily

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2018
11
4
Online
Do you KNOW you need to run some PowerPC apps, or are you thinking just in case?

Any other reason you are sticking with such an old machine? It should be noted that you can get pretty reasonable 2008-2011 machines for relatively cheap these days, and they can run modern software. Most can run High Sierra, which will be "modern" for several years.

Nope I just thought I might have needed it.

You were right I just ordered the Mid 2009 Macbook 2.13ghz 4gb 256mb Video Ram with El captain, and ordered the 4gb upgrade for my current Macbook too, now I just need to get a SSD, I can't believe I got both of them for less than 150 dollars.

I'll probably get the SSD later on and give the other Macbook to my Mom would be all she needs.. Am going hold off on getting the 8gb upgrade for awhile, that cost a bit much right now.

Thanks for the Advice.. XD

On a MacBook 2,1, it's best to stick with Snow Leopard unless you've maxed-out the RAM and installed an SSD.

As a user of vintage Apple hardware, I recommend checking out the PowerPC section on this forum. Discussion of early Intel systems from 2006 or 2007 is welcome there as well.

Thanks, I will give that a try too..
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,381
10,778
Nope I just thought I might have needed it.

You were right I just ordered the Mid 2009 Macbook 2.13ghz 4gb 256mb Video Ram with El captain, and ordered the 4gb upgrade for my current Macbook too, now I just need to get a SSD, I can't believe I got both of them for less than 150 dollars.

I'll probably get the SSD later on and give the other Macbook to my Mom would be all she needs.. Am going hold off on getting the 8gb upgrade for awhile, that cost a bit much right now.
Kingston A400 120 GB SSD is $28 at Amazon.

https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/kingston-a400-120-gib-ssd-review/
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-120GB-Solid-SA400S37-120G/dp/B01N6JQS8C/

This SSD + 4 GB RAM should provide adequate performance. The SSD isn't very fast, but it's not super slow either, and overall it's quite reasonable performance-wise for this purpose judging by the reviews.

8 GB would help but it's much less of an upgrade than the SSD, and really only necessary if you multitask a fair amount or use a lot of browser tabs, etc.

I believe your new (old) machine is MacBook5,2. That will work well with 10.11 El Capitan as that is fully supported. However, 10.13 High Sierra and 10.12 Sierra may or may not be problematic. Some of the MacBook5,2 units don't have compatible WiFi modules for Sierra/High Sierra. If you have an incompatible WiFi module, then you can buy a compatible one off eBay, but of course that would be additional cost. Also, for MacBook5,2, while the trackpad will work in Sierra/High Sierra, it gets seen by the OS as a mouse, so you can't change all the trackpad settings.
 
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Maccily

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 9, 2018
11
4
Online
Kingston A400 120 GB SSD is $28 at Amazon.

https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/kingston-a400-120-gib-ssd-review/
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-120GB-Solid-SA400S37-120G/dp/B01N6JQS8C/

This SSD + 4 GB RAM should provide adequate performance. The SSD isn't very fast, but it's not super slow either, and overall it's quite reasonable performance-wise for this purpose judging by the reviews.

8 GB would help but it's much less of an upgrade than the SSD, and really only necessary if you multitask a fair amount or use a lot of browser tabs, etc.

I believe your new (old) machine is MacBook5,2. That will work well with 10.11 El Capitan as that is fully supported. However, 10.13 High Sierra and 10.12 Sierra may or may not be problematic. Some of the MacBook5,2 units don't have compatible WiFi modules for Sierra/High Sierra. If you have an incompatible WiFi module, then you can buy a compatible one off eBay, but of course that would be additional cost. Also, for MacBook5,2, while the trackpad will work in Sierra/High Sierra, it gets seen by the OS as a mouse, so you can't change all the trackpad settings.

Wow that sounds awesome. I'll have consider that for sure. Thank you..

For The Macbook5,2 I believe it is, it hasn't shipped yet.. El Capitan 10.11.6 the latest update was 3 months ago. So will probably stay with it for awhile. Although they say it can be patched to run Sierra 10.12, most software I have encountered says it requires OSX 10.10 or Higher at the most so El Capitan should be fine for awhile..

Then I have this one game Star Trek D.A.C. that needs 256mb of Video Memory. I am hoping it works.

Thank you for all the Advice.. I just can't wait til I get my New (old) Machine.. lol
 

kohlson

macrumors 68020
Apr 23, 2010
2,425
736
Just for reference, I upgraded a 2011 13-MBA to High Sierra. It has only 4GB, and its SSD is SATA3 (though not a SATA connector). Runs great for general use.

SSDs improve performance not because of throughput speed, but because it delivers data with zero rotational latency - like HDD. (Of course, later SSD technology, as found in newer Macs, have faster interfaces.)
 

technano

macrumors member
Oct 27, 2012
54
11
I do have something similar to yours, except mine is the 2008 macbook black. Was running lion OS X for a few years and decided to take the leap and installed the latest Ubuntu 18.04.

It’s working perfect and it’s really fast. It’s currently running 4GB Ram and have yet to install in SSD. I believe it should be fast if I did install an SSD and run Ubuntu
 
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