Need Help With An Older Macbook Pro

[b06tmm]

An acquaintance of mine has a Macbook Pro that he received in his father's estate. It currently has 3 accounts on it and one of them is his father's.

I've tried to boot to Linux live distro's and using the recovery program from Apple to try and recover/salvage the machine.

I'm thinking I may need a "period correct" DVD to restore this but I can't figure out what to get. It takes my 2009 Macbook Air power supply but I know next to nothing else about it.

If I take to an Apple store can they figure out what restore software I need?

Cheers!

 

[MagicBoy]

All the Intel MacBooks use a similar charger so that doesn't help much. The Air and retina just use a slimmer plug on the same charger.

Enter the serial number into this page and it will give you the model type : https://selfsolve.apple.com/

 

[b06tmm]

Enter the serial number into this page and it will give you the model type : https://selfsolve.apple.com/

That's the problem. I can't determine the serial number without being able to log in to the machine.

 

[Naimfan]

It may be printed on the bottom plate.

If not, remove the bottom plate and the serial number is printed on the logic board, near the RAM slots IIRC.

 

[MarvinHC]

It may be printed on the bottom plate.

If not, remove the bottom plate and the serial number is printed on the logic board, near the RAM slots IIRC.

or under the battery (first unibody models).

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Does it have an express card slot (EC/34 to be precise)? The last model with this was late 2008 (I have one).

 

[Naimfan]

or under the battery (first unibody models).

Right!

Thank you for clarifying.

 

[b06tmm]

It may be printed on the bottom plate.

It was on the bottom plate, thank you.

According to the S/N it is a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009).

Would the proper OS for it be Leopard?

I seem to remember getting a free upgrade to Snow Leopard when I got my air in 2009. Would this work or must I start with Leopard?

Thanks!

 

[ecschwarz]

It was on the bottom plate, thank you.

According to the S/N it is a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009).

Would the proper OS for it be Leopard?

I seem to remember getting a free upgrade to Snow Leopard when I got my air in 2009. Would this work or must I start with Leopard?

Thanks!

According to http://www.mactracker.ca, they sold your model from June 2009 to April 2010 and needed Leopard 10.5.7 or newer.

If you have access to a newer machine, it will certainly run Mavericks with no trouble, and at least then you'd have more recent security updates. You can make a Mavericks boot disk with these steps: http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install-drive.html

I know it's a friend's machine, so this is purely advice, but 8GB RAM and an SSD would make this a very good everyday machine for a lot of people. I've got some friends using its predecessor (the Late 2008 15" MacBook Pro), its cheaper contemporary (the Mid-2009 13" MacBook Pro), and and even older model (the Late 2008 13" Aluminum MacBook) all with that combination of RAM, some sort of SSD, and Mavericks without no trouble. All of these machines should get Yosemite in the fall, and I suspect performance will be quite good.

As for the AC adapter from your MacBook Air, it's the same type of connection/voltage, but a different wattage. The general rule of thumb is that you can use a higher wattage AC adapter with no trouble, but not a lower. If you use a lower wattage one, it will not be able to power _and_ charge the machine, and so your battery may continue to drain.

15/17" MacBook Pros use 85W models
13" MacBooks (and MacBook Pros) use 65W, but can also use 85W models
11/13" MacBook Airs use 45W, but can also use 65W and 85W

 

[RedRaven571]

It was on the bottom plate, thank you.

According to the S/N it is a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53GHz, Mid 2009).

Would the proper OS for it be Leopard?

I seem to remember getting a free upgrade to Snow Leopard when I got my air in 2009. Would this work or must I start with Leopard?

Thanks!

If you have a SL disc (not the one that came with a specific computer) or a flash drive with SL, then use that, otherwise, why not download Mavericks from the app store (using your Air), make a USB installer and install the latest OS X?

 

[b06tmm]

Thank you ecschwarz and RedRaven571!

I may have given away the SL disk when I gave a friend my old 24" iMac (not Air) but I have Mavericks on all of my other Mac's so it looks like I should be able to create a Mavericks USB installer.