Macbook White 2010 - just got it!

[technano]

Just bought a used 2010 Macbook White for a pretty good price. Solely objective of this machine is an experimental purposes, so that I won’t use my main MacBook for all these testings that may potentially affect the productivity.

How frequent/common Is the issue of the rubber bottom case Flanking out? Honestly I’m not keen of the rubber case, but would it be very hot to touch the bottom case should the rubber case is flaked out due to manufacturing defects?

Thanks

 

[keysofanxiety]

Generally should be okay if you look after it.

As an aside, I love those machines. It was my first Mac waaay back when — wish I hadn’t sold it in 2011. Put an SSD in it, max the RAM to 8GB, and she’s still solid on 10.11.

 

[ORTOX]

Just bought a used 2010 Macbook White for a pretty good price. Solely objective of this machine is an experimental purposes, so that I won’t use my main MacBook for all these testings that may potentially affect the productivity.

How frequent/common Is the issue of the rubber bottom case Flanking out? Honestly I’m not keen of the rubber case, but would it be very hot to touch the bottom case should the rubber case is flaked out due to manufacturing defects?

Thanks

I'm thinking about buying one myself. Have you tried to install Mojave?

 

[EugW]

What’s the flaking issue?

10.13 High Sierra will run well with 8 GB and good quality SSD on a 2.4 GHz MacBook7,1.

I'm thinking about buying one myself. Have you tried to install Mojave?

Don’t do it. Too many issues With Mojave on these.

 

[ORTOX]

What’s the flaking issue?

10.13 High Sierra will run well with 8 GB and good quality SSD on a 2.4 GHz MacBook7,1.


Don’t do it. Too many issues With Mojave on these.

Thanks for the input. I was planning on doing it. Any hope of the issues being ironed out?

 

[EugW]

Thanks for the input. I was planning on doing it. Any hope of the issues being ironed out?

With my limited knowledge IMO there is no real hope of all the Mojave issues being worked out. The hope is that the issues can be minimized enough that they don’t bother people too much. The issue here is the lack of Metal support. Hardware support issue. I’ve actually run it a while back on unsupported hardware and it does work but it doesn’t feel like a true Mac experience because of the glitches. You could try it though and see if you can tolerate the problems.

In contrast, with some unsupported 2008 MacBooks and MacBook Pros, High Sierra works effectively identically to a fully supported machine (other than the install process and APFS boot drive support), which isn’t a surprise since they have the same internals as some fully supported machines in High Sierra. In this case it seems part of the support cutoff was made rather arbitrarily.

 

[technano]

There is no official support for Mojave from Apple.

I got it for $200 Singapore dollar in my country, which I reckon is a good deal. Battery count was only 145! Thankfully!

I should say, it’s the bottom rubber case that wrapped up and there is a replacement programme for it

 

[EugW]

There is no official support for Mojave from Apple.

No official support, but you can run Mojave on that. However, see this thread for the problems.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-14-mojave-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2121473/

To me running Mojave on an unsupported Mac just doesn't feel quite like running a fully supported Mac.
OTOH, running High Sierra on some unsupported Macs feels just like running fully supported Macs (once everything is installed and configured).

Luckily, your MacBook7,1 has full High Sierra support, which is good because it natively supports APFS. Mojave is nice, but isn't as big of a jump over High Sierra as High Sierra was over Sierra.

I got it for $200 Singapore dollar in my country, which I reckon is a good deal. Battery count was only 145! Thankfully!

I should say, it’s the bottom rubber case that wrapped up and there is a replacement programme for it

That's an excellent deal if in good condition. But if the machine still has a hard drive, then upgrading to a good SSD would make a huge improvement.

Also, 2 GB is insufficient. 4 GB bare minimum IMO, and 8 GB preferred.

 

[technano]

No official support, but you can run Mojave on that. However, see this thread for the problems.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-10-14-mojave-on-unsupported-macs-thread.2121473/

To me running Mojave on an unsupported Mac just doesn't feel quite like running a fully supported Mac.
OTOH, running High Sierra on some unsupported Macs feels just like running fully supported Macs (once everything is installed and configured).

Luckily, your MacBook7,1 has full High Sierra support, which is good because it natively supports APFS. Mojave is nice, but isn't as big of a jump over High Sierra as High Sierra was over Sierra.


That's an excellent deal if in good condition. But if the machine still has a hard drive, then upgrading to a good SSD would make a huge improvement.

Also, 2 GB is insufficient. 4 GB bare minimum IMO, and 8 GB preferred.

Yes, I have spares 2 X 4GB rams, and a spare SSD. I have since fit it in, and everything is working perfectly. really happy with this deal, only worried about the wrapped bottom rubber case..~

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Great deal!
My spare MacBook April 2010 is running very very nicely with High Sierra. Took 8 hours to install through the night but worth it.
I'm still using its original hard drive and 4GB of RAM and this High Sierra really has put new life into the old dog. She's a very happy old breakdancing lady now doing windmills and backflips

 

[EugW]

Great deal!
My spare MacBook April 2010 is running very very nicely with High Sierra. Took 8 hours to install through the night but worth it.
I'm still using its original hard drive and 4GB of RAM and this High Sierra really has put new life into the old dog. She's a very happy old breakdancing lady now doing windmills and backflips

You NEED an SSD.

 

[StellarVixen]

Check out "Mojave on unsupported Macs" thread here.

Basically, it can be kinda done, but prepare for a lot of difficulty, and in the end, it is not gonna work 100 percent as it should, but it will somewhat work.

I think it is not worse the hassle. I would just keep using High Sierra...

 

[boogiedout]

I’ve just bought one of these for my daughter, from Santa! I’ve only had it on to set it up, but was concerned that full screen Netflix was a bit stuttery (this will prob be her main use). Would an SSD help this issue??

 

[EugW]

I’ve just bought one of these for my daughter, from Santa! I’ve only had it on to set it up, but was concerned that full screen Netflix was a bit stuttery (this will prob be her main use). Would an SSD help this issue??

How are you watching Netflix? How much memory do you have? Are you using Safari plus Silverlight? Have you tried not using Silverlight? Chrome works without Silverlight, and Chrome plays cleanly on my 2008 MacBook 2.0 GHz. Your 2.4 GHz 2010 MacBook has a 20% faster CPU, and has a faster GPU too. For 720p Netflix, it was around 25% CPU usage on my 2008 MacBook in Chrome when I tried Lost in Space, all perfectly smooth.

Also, I did note that for YouTube, it stuttered more often when I had a very slow SSD vs. when I had a moderately fast SSD. I didn't think that would make a difference, but it did in some instances. The specific scenario here was that when I first launched the YouTube video, it would stutter for a second of three, but then on the moderately fast SSD it would correct itself and play smoothly afterwards. With the really slow SSD, it would sometimes take a long time to stop stuttering. I wonder if this is a buffering issue.

And finally, a reboot sometimes can sometimes clear up weirdness in video playback. I have had the experience of stuttery video playback on a 2017 Core i5 iMac, but it cleared up after a reboot. So, software issues.

 

[technano]

I’ve just bought one of these for my daughter, from Santa! I’ve only had it on to set it up, but was concerned that full screen Netflix was a bit stuttery (this will prob be her main use). Would an SSD help this issue??

I have since installed 8GB DDR3 ram, and replace the hard disk with an SSD. The procedure is easy. Currently running on high Sierra, and the sole purpose of it is to test out new application and as a download machine

I would say that I'm happy with the performance, capable of battery level at 100% playing YouTube musics 4 hours straight, via bluetooth speaker and end of the 4 hours there is still 20% battery.

I'm lucky that the set I got has got low battery count

 

[weezin]

Nothing more to say other than that these are great machines. I actually bought two used ones (because I found a great deal) and outfitted them with SSDs and more ram. Loved that machine. I ended up giving both to my brother who also loved them and he just demolished them.

 

[AnonMac50]

I bought a used one last year for collection and experimentation purposes, it was previously part of a group of computers used by students at a school, so it’s been through rough days. Still, other than a few cracks, it was still good, and the bottom case remained perfect. I recently upgraded the computer, installed Windows 10 and gave it to someone who needs it more than me. I know it will last a long time too.

 

[Aurora823]

Just bought a used 2010 Macbook White for a pretty good price. Solely objective of this machine is an experimental purposes, so that I won’t use my main MacBook for all these testings that may potentially affect the productivity.

How frequent/common Is the issue of the rubber bottom case Flanking out? Honestly I’m not keen of the rubber case, but would it be very hot to touch the bottom case should the rubber case is flaked out due to manufacturing defects?

Thanks

So I had the white MacBook from 2006....not sure if by 2010 they had worked out all the issues but mine died twice of hard drive failures, once of a motherboard failure, my speakers went and my case began to peel apart (also the first few days I had it at home the bottom part of the case yellowed...)....maybe I just got a REALLY bad one... But it is cool to get ahold of Apple's older laptops and such...there is just something fun about it

 

[brdeveloper]

Put an SSD in it, max the RAM to 8GB, and she’s still solid on 10.11.

Just as an addendum, the white Macbook from 2010 supports up to 16GB, on the contrary of the Late-2009 which supports only 8GB. I have the 2010 Macmini with 16GB, which has exactly the same internals as the 2010 Macbook. Take care with RAM speed: the first stick must be DDR3-1066; the other one doesn't matter. At the time I upgraded, I ran a Windows software to edit internal RAM descriptors, so it "informed" the logic board it was a 1066 stick, but in truth it was a 1333MHz one.
[doublepost=1543972582][/doublepost]

How frequent/common Is the issue of the rubber bottom case Flanking out? Honestly I’m not keen of the rubber case, but would it be very hot to touch the bottom case should the rubber case is flaked out due to manufacturing defects?

I had the rubber case replaced for free circa 2013, after three years of usage. Actually I've put it to run heavy and hot algorithms, even doing some CUDA processing on that weak Nvidia 9400m GPU. That was fun, but it made the rubber part of the bottom case to unstick.

Apple doesn't look too expert on rubber parts. Now the rubber feet from my Retina Macbook Pro are unsticking from the bottom case. I've already made a new foot with black Sugru, but I will have to make a couple more soon.

 

[Jack Neill]

Picked up a 7,1 from a pawn shop for 70$. I put a Samsung 512 SSD and 16Gb of OWC ram in it. Its running Mojave better than High Sierra. Nice machine.

 

[0989382]

You NEED an SSD.

I agree. macOS and W10 even just simply aren't optimised for HDDs anymore. It used to be a reasonable experience but now it's nearly unusable. It's either that it's unoptimised or maybe we're just spoilt with speed? But definitely need an SSD in 2019. HDD's are fine for backups, that's about it!

 

[Eschers]

I grabbed mine yesterday, although had some obstacles to overcome.

First of all there is the Boot-Rom: I could barely find something about the MacBook7,1 and the latest Boot-Rom until i stumbled on a site where it mentioned that the latest version for this model is 68.0.0.0.0 but mine was showing MB71.003F.B00 and/but already running High Sierra. Afterwards patched Mojave before I actually remembered about the Boot-Rom.

So I went back and installed El Capitan + afterwards all AppStore updates and then downloaded Sierra and installed it on another partition. It went all fine and after the Sierra OS was set up I opened the App Store and searched for updates. These updates actually included the newest Boot-Rom-Version 68.0.0.0.0 that was installed with this update(which took a bit longer than usual).

The other strange issue is that I bought 2x8GB Corsair MacRam 1333MHz which do not work in the machine(although i knew that this model originally was running 1067MHz) but on the package it it specified as compatible with MacBook Mid 2010 (or MacBook7,1). One of these is able to run if another 1067MHz stick is installed and therefore the 1333MHz stick will be downclocked. More information in the attached image.

Machine running great now with 10GB Ram(correct 2x8GB 1067MHz 8500S coming soon!) and WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SSD!

 

[Jack Neill]

I grabbed mine yesterday, although had some obstacles to overcome.

First of all there is the Boot-Rom: I could barely find something about the MacBook7,1 and the latest Boot-Rom until i stumbled on a site where it mentioned that the latest version for this model is 68.0.0.0.0 but mine was showing MB71.003F.B00 and/but already running High Sierra. Afterwards patched Mojave before I actually remembered about the Boot-Rom.

So I went back and installed El Capitan + afterwards all AppStore updates and then downloaded Sierra and installed it on another partition. It went all fine and after the Sierra OS was set up I opened the App Store and searched for updates. These updates actually included the newest Boot-Rom-Version 68.0.0.0.0 that was installed with this update(which took a bit longer than usual).

The other strange issue is that I bought 2x8GB Corsair MacRam 1333MHz which do not work in the machine(although i knew that this model originally was running 1067MHz) but on the package it it specified as compatible with MacBook Mid 2010 (or MacBook7,1). One of these is able to run if another 1067MHz stick is installed and therefore the 1333MHz stick will be downclocked. More information in the attached image.

Machine running great now with 10GB Ram(correct 2x8GB 1067MHz 8500S coming soon!) and WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SSD!

It really is a nice machine with a SSD and some ram. I don't know if 16Gb of ram is really needed given the C2D CPU but it runs Mojave quite nice. I used OWC ram in mine because I was worried about the 1333 issue.

 

[brdeveloper]

The other strange issue is that I bought 2x8GB Corsair MacRam 1333MHz which do not work in the machine(although i knew that this model originally was running 1067MHz) but on the package it it specified as compatible with MacBook Mid 2010 (or MacBook7,1). One of these is able to run if another 1067MHz stick is installed and therefore the 1333MHz stick will be downclocked. More information in the attached image.

Machine running great now with 10GB Ram(correct 2x8GB 1067MHz 8500S coming soon!) and WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SSD!

If you want turning a 1333MHz stick into a 1067MHz one you can run Thaiphoon Burner app (Windows-only). It allows editing RAM descriptors on your stick in a pretty straight-forward way. I did this on my Macmini 2010. You can edit the 8GB stick already installed on your Macbook, then put it on the slot#1, and finally you can use the remaining 8GB stick.

 

[Eschers]

If you want turning a 1333MHz stick into a 1067MHz one you can run Thaiphoon Burner app (Windows-only). It allows editing RAM descriptors on your stick in a pretty straight-forward way. I did this on my Macmini 2010. You can edit the 8GB stick already installed on your Macbook, then put it on the slot#1, and finally you can use the remaining 8GB stick.

Thanks, will try that out! setting up windows on my MacBook7,1 currently!

What license did you buy? Perosonal/Individual for 26$?