Restoring old Mac Book Pro (A1226)

[mars76]

HI All,

I bought a Mac Book Pro (A1226) and trying to restore. It doesn't have hard drive. I have never used a mac and sorry if some of these questions are very basic.

1) What's the latest OS version i can put on this ??

2) Do i need to buy the 10.6 Mountain Lion from Apple Store? I have no idea what's the minimum required software i need to get started on this.

3) If i can do 1 & 2 Is there a way i can update this version to latest Mac version (even if not supported by apple)

4) Can i use this for coding apps using XCode ?

Really appreciate your help.

Thanks

 

[MacInTO]

I'm going to guess Lion (10.7).

I just reloaded a 2007 White Macbook (2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo). It's the same approximate specs as your machine. You can google it and probably find an image on the Internet somewhere.

There are some folks out there that hacked the install to run Mavericks and/or Yosemite. I tried it and it didn't work very well for me.

Good luck!

 

[DeltaMac]

The A1226 model (a Mid-2007 model) can actually upgrade to OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), and as Macs that can get there can also go to 10.11, then that's possible, too.
But, you are going with a good plan, I think, to get Snow Leopard. When you have that installed, and updated, you can then decide to update to latest, if you want to do that. You would definitely want to upgrade the RAM to 4GB or higher. Your model cannot be upgraded to more than 6GB.
Of course, you also need to get a hard drive. An SSD is great, but your model won't give near the real speed that an SSD is capable of doing - the SATA bus is pretty slow.

 

[MacInTO]

There you go!. Someone who knows what they're taking about!

 

[mars76]

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

Also it looks like i cannot use the new mac book air charger to mac book pro !!!

It doesn't go into the power adapter slot of mac book pro (the charger plug is slightly bigger than the slot)

Do i need to get a specific model ??

Thanks

 

[DeltaMac]

The MBAir uses the newer Magsafe 2.
Apple sells an converter for Magsage power cord to a Magsafe 2 connector, but it's the wrong combination for your needs.

I don't know if anyone offers a Magsafe 2 (for the newer adapter) to Magsafe (connecting to your older Magsafe) converter
Your best choice is to purchase a Magsafe adapter. Apple sells them, and you can find the genuine Apple 85W in a variety of other places.
You can also take a chance on the much-cheaper Asian copies. You might get lucky with those. Be sure that whatever you purchase is an 85 watt, and not a 60 watt model. Look on eBay, but be careful about condition, particularly of the cable.

 

[MacInTO]

You can find used Authentic Apple MagSafe chargers on eBay or Craigslist for cheap.

I don't recommend the knock-offs. Some of them are pretty poor quality.