Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Who has the 1st gen Uni-body MBP? (Late 2008)

I have the 1st gen MBP and...

  • I had/have no problems

    Votes: 23 67.6%

  • I have had problems

    Votes: 11 32.4%
  • Total voters
    34
BJB Productions

BJB Productions

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 10, 2008
1,314
136
Hey everyone...I'm curious...I know a lot of people with the Uni-body MBP...It's a great selling computer, but how many actually have the 1st gen? I'm one of those people, and I've had nothing but problems with mine. I plan on selling it while it still has Apple care left and probably getting whatever comes out in the next month.

So what's your review? Problems? Flawless? Let me know! (1st gen users)

Thanks.
 
I got the top of the line (at the time) 13" 2008 unibody and only issue I have had was a cracked trackpad, which I had fixed under applecare. Other than that it has been a great computer. I have 4gb memory and upgraded the hard drive to a momentus xt drive. If I put an ssd in here this thing would fly. I did upgrade to a 15" MBP and gave the 13" to my wife....
 
That's good.

Oh yeah-let me add my specs:
-The specs:
-15" Glossy Screen
-2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Due
-2 GB 1064 MHz DDR3
-NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
-Toshiba 250gb HDD
(Pretty basic machine.)
 
I have a first gen 13" unibody Macbook, never had a problem... so there you go.

Edit: i did have a faulty battery that was replaced a few months ago, but it was covered by Applecare.
 
I've had a few problems as well. The screen flickers when I use the 9400m, and I get kernel panics whenever I use the 9600m. Other than that, I couldn't be happier.
 
tennisplaya2004 said:
I've had a few problems as well. The screen flickers when I use the 9400m, and I get kernel panics whenever I use the 9600m. Other than that, I couldn't be happier.
Click to expand...

A total clean install may fix your issue. I have a 15 inch MBP mid 2010 and I was also getting kernel panics. I took it to the Apple store and they said the hardware was fine so it had to be software related. I did the clean install and haven't had one so far. It has only been about a week so that Isn't saying much, but usually I'd have at least one a week.

Now about the rest of this thread. Before getting my current 2010 MBP, I had a 1st gen aluminum unibody MacBook. I personally never had any issues with it because I took pretty good care of it. Now its my sisters computer, and when she closes the lid, it doesn't close as smoothly as it normally did. I think thats more of her accidentally damaging the henge
 
My friend has a late 2008 unibody 15" MBP with NVidia 9400M+9600M. One of the GPU's failed, and he had to send it in for a logic board replacement. Then a couple months after that, some bitch in our class dropped it on the floor, it hit the metal "foot" of the desk, and severely damaged the aluminum. She didn't even say sorry :eek::mad:. I felt so bad for the MBP and my friend...
 
2.4 GHz late 08 15" uMBP here. Still chugging along. I put in an optibay for an Intel SSD, and replaced the HDD with a 1TB Western Digital. No problems except some minor flickering on the 9400m. Also had a series of graphics card related kernel panics for a while, but a restart seems to have fixed it. I do plan to upgrade when the Sandy Bridge MBPs come out though.
 
I have late 08 15'' mbp glossy 2.4 2gb ram 250 gb hd dual graphic cards.

Issues so far had annoying line in my screen that kept getting worse also the light leek kept spreading, having apple care apple took care the screen.

Super drive was also replaced, no just noticed get beach ball a lot of times while doing nothing crazy its really annoying.

My hopes is that apple has to do a major repair such as logic board and at that point I will ask for a replacement or argue for one.
 
To add. I've had several issues, all of which where fixed by Applecare; keyboard backlighting stopped working within a few months, hard drive failed, and the optical drive failed 18 months in.

Normal problems which I'm fine with, except the screen flickering.
I have the base 2.4, btw - and only upgraded to 4GB crucial ram and a WD 7200rpm 500Gb drive
 
If you've got "nothing but issues" and "Applecare left" then don't lose money selling it, but have it fixed/replaced by Apple. :apple:
 
Timur said:
If you've got "nothing but issues" and "Applecare left" then don't lose money selling it, but have it fixed/replaced by Apple. :apple:
Click to expand...

Well I'm going to hopefully get the HDD and battery replaced, then sell it. When I sell it, I will of course, supply a complete repair history. I just think it's worth more if I sell it while it still has Apple Care, instead of waiting until Apple Care is expired.
 
I had 1 problem and it was a nice experience!

I had a 3.06 128ssd 4th ram mbp 17 unibody and mine started shutting off when disconnected from the MagSafe adapter. Apple made an appointment for me at the local store at the mall. When I got there they had my name up on the board that I was next in line and were right on the money . The rep was super nice. Replaced the battery and all was perfect within an hour.

Besides that the machine ran just like new till the day I sold it a few weeks ago.
 
I got the 13" 2.4Ghz. Just switched from 2gb to 4gb ram which made the whole thing feel like new (I don't care if somebody says it shouldn't make a difference if you're running few applications at a time.. but it definitely does!).

No issues, except that the lid opens by itself if turned vertical, like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lADXJ87KGyI
 
Issues on likely all late 2008 Unibody 15" Macbook Pro:

- ExpressCard slot is next to useless, because of incompatibilities with most cards. -> Partly solved 2010!

- ExpressCard slot cannot be used with bootcamped Windows Vista/7, only with XP and certain restrictions. -> Partly solved 2010!

- Bootcamp 2.x drivers coming with Leopard lead to audio dropouts on bootcamped Windows. -> Partly solved 2009!

- Active Dual-DVI Displayport adapter for 30" (the 100 Euro ones) cannot be used without loss of colors/banding and flickering. -> Not solved!

- Firewire chipset (revision 6 LSI/Agere) is incompatible with several devices (needs a hub/repeater to bridge as workaround). -> Solved 2009!

- Trackpad clicks so loud it sounds as if it's broken. -> Partly solved 2009!

- Hinge is too lose and causes lid to close if used at wrong angle (like while sitting in bed with the Mac on your knees). -> Partly solved 2009!

So, yeah, get a new one! ;)
 
smallnshort247 said:
A total clean install may fix your issue. I have a 15 inch MBP mid 2010 and I was also getting kernel panics. I took it to the Apple store and they said the hardware was fine so it had to be software related. I did the clean install and haven't had one so far. It has only been about a week so that Isn't saying much, but usually I'd have at least one a week.

Now about the rest of this thread. Before getting my current 2010 MBP, I had a 1st gen aluminum unibody MacBook. I personally never had any issues with it because I took pretty good care of it. Now its my sisters computer, and when she closes the lid, it doesn't close as smoothly as it normally did. I think thats more of her accidentally damaging the henge
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, it is the GPU (took it to the apple store), so I will have to get the logic board replaced.
 
I bought my girlfriend one of the very first uni-body 13" macbooks back in October 2008 and she hasn't had any problems at all... But I have to mention that she is a very light user and does nothing really heavy or intensive on it.

I'm glad she hasnt had any big issues because I neglected to get Applecare for it :(
 
One of the two USB ports on my 2008 15" MBP also stopped functioning for several weeks, the one closer to the Displayport and ExpressCard slot. Once an external display was connected to the Displayport the USB port automagically repaired itself. :apple:
 
I've mostly had HDD issues. What's with this flickering screen stuff?...I've never had that problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back