Who in here still using the MacBook Pro (Non Unibody)

[MacAndrew07]

Well I'm about to get my first Mac laptop, its a 2007 MacBook Pro, (non unibody) its quite old but I don't care I will eventually upgrade it to 4 GB RAM and an SSD. I'm still using my Mac Mini 2006 Intel Core Duo with Snow Leopard, and since I need a Mac for college I decided to buy a used MacBook Pro on eBay. How long do you think the non unibody MacBook Pro will last?

 

[Qaanol]

I also have a 2007 MBP with Snow Leopard, and the only thing wrong with it is the display stopped working. So it is relegated to deskbound duty, at which it functions just fine. If I upgraded its RAM and stuck in an SSD, it would be great for pretty much all non-intensive tasks for several years.

If the screen still worked on mine, I would probably do so and be perfectly happy. Heck, if there were a way to slap in a 1920×1200, or even 1680×1050, replacement screen, I would likely do so. But I haven’t found a screen that would work, and I don’t want to stick with 1440×900, so I’m saving up for Haswell.

If the machine runs all the programs you need, it’ll be fine for as long as it keeps running, which ought to be many years yet.

 

[Asuriyan]

About 3 days, if it has the Nvidia chip.

Of the pre-unibody models, the late 2006 2,1 or 2,2 (Core 2 Duo, X1600, 15" or 17") are the only ones I would buy. I have its predecessor, the Core Duo model, which is still going strong, but the 32 bit CPU limits its upgradeability somewhat.

 

[MacAndrew07]

About 3 days, if it has the Nvidia chip.

Of the pre-unibody models, the 2,1 (Core 2 Duo, X1600) is the only one I would buy. I have its predecessor, the Core Duo model, which is still going strong, but the 32 bit CPU limits its upgradeability somewhat.

It has the ATI Radeon X1600

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I'll be using it for Photoshop, Final Cut Pro (not the X), and Logic Studio, I won't do any graphic intenssive stuff I guess, and with 4 GB or 6 GB it should be fine. I mean I've been using the Intel GMA 950 on my Mac Mini all the time

 

[Asuriyan]

It has the ATI Radeon X1600

Then you are in good shape, because that computer is a tank.

The only things to watch out for (in my 7 years of ownership experience): cooling fans and the disc drive. The latter is immediately obvious (but not an expensive fix) and the former can be detected with smcFanControl.

Also, I think the hard cap for that generation is 4GB, but that's more than enough for Snow Leopard and CS5.

 

[MacAndrew07]

Since It can't handle ML, I will probably install Lion 10.7, or 10.6 Snow Leo. Can someone tell me how the MBP handles Lion?

 

[Qaanol]

Lion is terrible. I never put it on my MBP because I tried it on other machines and it is all around about 6 steps backward in terms of usability. It just doesn’t work the way you think it should. Mountain Lion took about 4 of those steps forward again, and maybe another 1 or 2 new steps.

Snow Leopard > Mountain Lion > Tiger > Leopard > Lion

 

[Asuriyan]

Since It can't handle ML, I will probably install Lion 10.7, or 10.6 Snow Leo. Can someone tell me how the MBP handles Lion?

I have it on my iMac which has about the same specifications (Core 2 Duo 2.33, 4GB RAM). It's not perceptibly slower than Snow Leopard was. It was basically a trade-off: I lost legacy app support and gained multitouch gestures (I swear by the Magic Trackpad) and full-screen apps. I've been thinking about downgrading because Lion seems like a dog next to Mountain Lion, which I run on my rMBP. I've never gotten sick of Snow Leopard, on the other hand.

Since the MBP you're buying doesn't have a multitouch trackpad that isn't a huge bonus. I'd probably just stick with 10.6.8.

 

[MacAndrew07]

Snow Leopard it is then, but Apple is about to cut SL support, well yesterday I got the Security Update 2013-002 on my Mac Mini, but no Safari 6

 

[Asuriyan]

Snow Leopard it is then, but Apple is about to cut SL support, well yesterday I got the Security Update 2013-002 on my Mac Mini, but no Safari 6

They stopped releasing new Safari versions for SL a year ago. I've gotten 3 security updates since then and Safari 5 still runs fine.

 

[Badrottie]

I had 2007 MBP with 4GB off eBay 1 1/2 years ago..working flawlessly and took it to Apple store for testing and found out Logic board need to be replaced even thought the logic board is working fine I guess they want to do it to make me happy. I also upgraded Intel 320 series SSD (160GB) working perfectly. I have run with SL, Lion, and ML…all works fine. I don't know if next OS X will work on 2007. I really miss 2007 MBP so much.

 

[88888888]

Got a early 2008 mbp. It got slow since updating to mountain lion.. Despite upgrading to ssd and ram Snow leopard was so fast.

 

[arcite]

They stopped releasing new Safari versions for SL a year ago. I've gotten 3 security updates since then and Safari 5 still runs fine.

Firefox too.

 

[case2001]

MacBook Pro Core Duo 2006 model here. Works great. Bought it 3 years ago. Used it and carried it daily. Now carry a rMBP. Still use the Core duo almost every day at home. Really love that machine. I think if the machine has lasted this long if you just take care of her. It will provide years of service.

 

[squaremunk]

I have a macbook pro 2007 and put an ssd drive in a few months ago as it was pretty slow. It's completely revamped the machine running lion. It's faster then my 27 inch imac 2.8 intel core i5 with standard sata. Unfortunately it seems to have died on me yesterday. I posted a thread on it over here.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1591440/
If you have any suggestion I am all ears.. I am contemplating getting macbook air as a replacement if can't fix it.

 

[ohbrilliance]

I have a 2007 2.2GHz MBP, that I still use as my primary (and only) machine.
I have installed an Intel 320 over a year ago, and run Mountain Lion. The OS runs superbly for me. I had the MB replaced four years ago under the nVidia recall, and not a problem since.

I plan to upgrade to a rMBP at the next refresh. While 95% of the software runs beautifully on this laptop, Lightroom in particular runs pretty slowly. As a Lightroom plugin developer, this is quite a hindrance. My Windows XP VM runs reasonably, but I'd probably find it sluggish if I needed to use it more than occasionally.

FYI, the drive connectors only support SATA 1, so any modern SSD will do (assuming compatibility of the SSD controller). While the maximum speed of 150Mbps may not sound fast, the effect on the machine is transformational. I would upgrade to an SSD sooner rather than later.

 

[dimme]

I'm still running a 2007 & 2008, use'em everyday.

 

[GermanyChris]

I have an 07 MacBook.

 

[MacAndrew07]

How well does FCP run on these MacBook?, I've been running Final Cut Express on my 2006 Mac Mini, with the GMA 950 and rendering a clip was a pain, it took 20 minutes to render a 5 min clip

 

[Queen6]

Early 2008 2.4 Penryn 15" still runs great, kept this one on Snow Leopard, only had to change the fans so far, original Logic Board and no sign of any GPU failure. My daughter mostly uses this MBP now for school assignments and of course games, it`s been running pretty much 24/7 since it left Apple in 08 definitely had my money`s worth, and then some out of the this MAC

 

[Badrottie]

How well does FCP run on these MacBook?, I've been running Final Cut Express on my 2006 Mac Mini, with the GMA 950 and rendering a clip was a pain, it took 20 minutes to render a 5 min clip

I ran FCPX on a 2007 MBP and it runs smoothly as butter!

 

[MacAndrew07]

Well I think I'll have to change the thread title to " Who in here still using the white MacBook" because I've just lost the deal with the guy on eBay, and I got the white MacBook

 

[Greene1123]

I'm using the 2007 2.4GHZ 2GB DDR2 160 GB HD pro and it's still going strong. Like some of you my display also died about 2 or so years ago but Apple replaced it for free.

Awesome computer, I can run Photoshop (CS3), Illustrator (CS4), itunes, and chrome all at once with no problems. The HD is starting to slow down significantly though... waiting for rMBP on Monday (fingers crossed)

 

[Ubele]

I have an early 2008 15" MBP with 4 GB of RAM running Mountain Lion. It had been getting quite slow for Aperture and certain other programs, so I finally broke down and bought a refurbished 2012 Mac mini i7 quad-core. It was the best bang for the buck for me. I would have preferred a rMBP or a high-end MBA, but I couldn't justify the cost. I was going to sell my old MBP, but since it isn't worth all that much, I've kept it around as a back-up for when I want to be mobile. Eventually I'll probably get a new rMBP or MBA. So a 2007-2008 MBP is still usable, but don't expect blazing speed.

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Got a early 2008 mbp. It got slow since updating to mountain lion.. Despite upgrading to ssd and ram Snow leopard was so fast.

Interesting. I was thinking of replacing the HHD in my early 2008 MBP with a cheap SSD. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've kept it as a back-up since buying a 2012 Mac mini. So I take it that you wouldn't recommend bothering upgrading my old MBP with an SSD?

 

[88888888]

I have an early 2008 15" MBP with 4 GB of RAM running Mountain Lion. It had been getting quite slow for Aperture and certain other programs, so I finally broke down and bought a refurbished 2012 Mac mini i7 quad-core. It was the best bang for the buck for me. I would have preferred a rMBP or a high-end MBA, but I couldn't justify the cost. I was going to sell my old MBP, but since it isn't worth all that much, I've kept it around as a back-up for when I want to be mobile. Eventually I'll probably get a new rMBP or MBA. So a 2007-2008 MBP is still usable, but don't expect blazing speed.

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Interesting. I was thinking of replacing the HHD in my early 2008 MBP with a cheap SSD. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've kept it as a back-up since buying a 2012 Mac mini. So I take it that you wouldn't recommend bothering upgrading my old MBP with an SSD?

Hmm I recommend using nothing after snow leopard lol