Fixing a $175 MacBook Pro from eBay

$175 can get you a cheap Windows PC or Chromebook, but what about a used MacBook Pro?
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[@Denki]

When life gives you lemons, sometimes you gotta make (death) lemonade...

[@powerfulshammy]

You should have just bought an older PC something like a i7 with 1080 inside for the same price of the MacBook + new screen

[@histerical90]

@@powerfulshammy I think the whole point was to get a mac... dunno why would anybody do that tho... 😑

[@joelngo9849]

Just dropping by to ask you gay or…….

[@EggTamago7]

Man I used that exact MacBook Pro for like 7 years. It got me through work, most of an electrical engineering degree, and I pushed it well past its limits doing some heavy Lightroom and Photoshop work, scrambling to pay the bills with real estate photography. That thing was a tank - probably one of the best laptops I’ve ever had. Even though it was lacking on power towards the end, it still had better battery life when it was 7 years old, than the 2020 Intel 13” MBP that replaced it. Totes down for more of these refurb videos!

[@kimeraevent]

You can remove the lamination from ANY MacBook screen with a Clorox Cleaning Wipe w/ Bleach. Make sure it is damp to wet but not dripping or soaking. Rub the screen from corner to corner in small circular movements. It usually takes about 2-3 passes. The display comes out clear of any marks. You can also use the wipes to clean the outside and keyboard of the laptop. You will want to, trust me. So long as the wipe isn’t dripping wet and you don’t press it into anything it will be safe to use. It dries quick and doesn’t cause surface corrosion.

[@TheNuDiabolic]

Leave it to apple/Mac users to recommend bleach and mouthwash for your electronics. Anyone ever heard of isopropyl alcohol?

[@randomscience4k]

Alcohol alone works but takes a lot longer and very difficult on the corners. Cleaning wipes work best, Clorox wipes are the best. I tried with ArmorAll automotive cleaning wipes and all of it came off in less than 30 mins. Tried on my old late 2013 15" MBP.

[@SweetKingTanner]

@@TheNuDiabolicacting like bleach is the devil or something

[@enicolas1985]

from my experience, baby wipes worked wayyyyy faster than clorox wipes w/ bleach.

[@intelarcy]

@@TheNuDiabolic isopropyl alcohol won’t remove the damaged layer lol

[@IKEMENOsakaman]

Similar to when Apple transitioned from PowerPC to Intel. No one wanted a recent PowerPC Mac for everyday use after Intel Macs showed up. And that transition was fast. Tiger started transition with separate PowerPC and Intel releases, Leopard was “universal,” and Snow Leopard was Intel-only. Granted, those older MacOS X major releases were not annual, but Apple switched to Intel quickly, across the lineup. After this transition to Apple Silicon, things on eBay will probably stabilize once the M1 generation of Macs are a few years older.

[@imark7777777]

Hey those MagSafe USB-C adapters are great. I pulled out one of my MacBook pros only to find out that the power adapter died. I had the foresight to order a couple of adapters last year so all I had to do was grab a spare USB-C brick and my audio mixer control station was back in business.

[@watercannonscollaboration2281]

Always keep the original SSD if you’re doing a SSD upgrade. For some reason some of these retinas require the Apple SSD to upgrade the firmware. I found this out the hard way with a 2015 MacBook Pro 15

[@Lord_common_sense]

xD

[@kimeraevent]

Not really an issue anymore as they are all no longer supported. Update the firmware as soon as you power it up and then swap out the drive if you need to.

[@collink799]

Loved this video bro! Haven’t been pulled into a video and purely entertained in a long while. Going to binge all your videos now, so happy you were on my recommended.

[@_SurferGeek_]

The screen is *not* delaminating. It's just the anti-glare coating breaking down due to cleaning and wear. A very common issue on this era MBPs. It's just the *alcohol* in the Listerine... you're just removing the rest of the coating. Speaking of alcohol, that would have helped you remove the battery. I used a mid-2009 MBP for almost 13 years, upgrading to the first M1. Damn fine hardware that lasts so much longer than the competition.

[@Denki]

Delamination is how Apple describes it on the service side, so we're going with that. Obviously it's alcohol, I say that in the video lmao

[@csdarlington86]

“delamination occurs when the anti-glare coating on your Retina display breaks down”

[@dylanlindsay1993]

dang bro! how did you get by on a 2009 macbook pro for 13 years? the last supported mac os is osx 10.11.... although you can hack newer versions on it with open core and dosdude1s patching tools... i recommend using dosdude 1s mojave patcher...

[@Thatonefuckinguy]

also why not just use iso alcohol instead?

[@_SurferGeek_]

@@Thatonefuckinguy Right?

[@deg503]

Might be fun to take the comparison to a chromebook a step further. I threw ChromeOS Flex on my old Air and it runs real nicely. Also - Pretty sure I was on a similar "4 day trip to New York" for the same reason :)

[@matthewjbauer1990]

I bought one of those Macbook Pro from a pop-up salvage sale store (they were only open for a few months) a few years ago. I used it for about 6 months but it left me wanting more. It wasn't getting any updates and it felt sluggish. Maybe I got a bad one, who knows, but after 6 months, I decided to basically retire that Macbook Pro. I do use it to control my 3d printer, but that's basically all that its good for IMHO.

[@glezpik]

I found the old MacBook's upgrading the best therapy on the pandemic, it`s like magic when you see the value you can get when you buy those old machines, and a few bucks later PUM!!! A very usable laptop for at least 3 years to come.

[@irensaga561]

I found one of these (i5, 8gbRam, 512 SSD, in a second hand shop for less than 100 dollars. It urgently needed the battery replacing, but that was it. It now runs Windows via Bootcamp.

[@irensaga561]

Oh, I also put Sonoma on it using Opencore.

[@Yodagamer1]

It’s kind of sad apple no longer supports their older laptops yet windows will work fine. I hate that a company who cares about the environment will abandon so many laptops.

[@MrBaskins2010]

good on you for saving a golden age macbook. love this channel bro

[@rrcoster]

Opencore huge life saver really saves these older mac to allow you to continue use them with newest mac os x

[@TacoStacks]

Genius I can't do any of this

[@imark7777777]

I have mixed feelings on the hard shell cases. They look nice but Louis Rossman seems to believe that they tend to get mold and mildew between them so clean regularly. I am actually quite impressed with skins. I've been I've been rocking some Dbrand ones and I think that's pretty much the way to go. And it's not just Security patches everything Internet wise just breaks as somebody who's still racking 10.6.

[@michaelwood9866]

i have a 13 inch mbp non retina from 2012 and i have sonoma on it.....runs great with 16gb of user upgradable ram and an ssd.

[@allenorozcolopez3689]

Great video! Although I would say that you could have done better trying to find a 2015 MacBook Pro, I was able to find one for 100$ and needed a battery and SSD, but the screen was mint, and overall only spent 200$ on it! Still a good value MacBook though! Scissors keyboard is great!🎉

[@gaiustacitus4242]

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro and there is absolutely no delamination. When this occurs, it is a result of using an improper cleaning solution.

[@Ordlnary_Gamer]

Because that didn’t have an anti-reflective coating.

[@KudoYoung]

Merry Chrysler everyone!

[@ms1595]

The price you paid was way too high. If you are going to replace the battery no matter what, get one with a dead battery and save money. I bought one in January 2023 for 120$. Late 2013 13" with only 8GB Ram and 256GB storage. The Display was in mint condition and I even got the original box. Battery was dead but an easy replacement. If you start buying new things, like screens and storage, there is no reason to buy such an old device. If you had bought a new screen and going past 400$ invested, you could have gotten a much better laptop in the first place. I would not recommend going Sonoma. For a normal daily use, I would install Ubuntu. Its easy to install and supports the Macbook fully (WLAN, BT, all keys and keyboard functions work out of the box). Also its not such a heavy OS like Sonoma.

[@Pr.2104]

I did a similar build like this where I ended up actually flipping for a bit of profit, I purchased local to me a $40 2015 mbp 13in 128gb, the mobo on it was fried but I ordered a replacement for 100 dollars flat, it was even a upgrade since it was originally a i5 with 8gb of ram, the new logic board I swapped in had an i7 and 16gb of ram. I then sold it for $260, then afterwards I invested onto another 2015 MBP 15in retina with a base 2.2ghz quad core i7 and 256gb ssd. For $160, Only issue it really had was bad speakers and service for a battery, I then purchased a new battery for $50 and speakers for $13. It also came to mind since i knew how to swap boards I figured why not just get a upgraded board with dedicated graphics, I then searched around and found one for $90 on ebay, a 2.5ghz i7 with the amd R9 370x. There after I swapped in the boards and was able to sell off my working 2.2ghz i7 for $130. And then as of yesterday I bought a samsung 1TB 980 Pro for $40 new from a local near me. Overall for everything added up my new College work laptop costed me about $103. Therefor I am honestly really happy with how everything turned out the screen and the specs especially running the latest of Sonoma feels amazing! I get decent battery life as well surprisingly

[@kalark]

love these kinds of videos! good work!

[@PlayStationBoy2012]

I have a 13 inch retina early 2015 core i5 2.7ghz 16gb 128gb ssd MacBook Pro and it works perfectly

[@marcusellby]

Love recondition of old tech

[@Mark-lu8ee]

FYI baby wipes work great to remove the anti reflective layer !

[@raulgorgulio9834]

I've got the 13" 2015 16/512 MBP as a travel laptop and I don't have any complaints about it's performance, but the battery life is kinda terrible even though the seller installed a new battery. I'm surprised you've got 8 hours of it, the reviews of all the batteries that I've found tell that 3-4 hours is the best you can get. Right now I'm thinking to sell the 2015 MBP and get the base M1 Air instead. I will get only a half of RAM and storage, but performance and battery life will be way better.

[@abdul15h]

try your best to get a ram upgrade, since u cant upgrade it down the line

[@carrioncrow8191]

Great video Ken

[@Rohirin]

I recently refurbished a mid 2010, and it's working well as my iTunes library.

[@kris.andrews]

I did an SSD swap in a 2015 MBP Retina using an adapter and the recommended WD SSD but after a few weeks it started to have all kinds of errors related to the NVME driver… ended up swapping back as it was so unstable, you might have more luck but it seems pretty common with this kind of swap.

[@diartaha9245]

Fun fact I previously experienced this delamination also used Listerine it in fact works but quite slowly

[@josaibel3114]

use cotton buds to reach edges of screen

[@benllewelyn98]

Theres no need for mouthwash, isopropyl alcohol will do the job in about 30 seconds then buy a roll of antiglare film and re cover it

[@DuneRunnerEnterprises]

Looks ok, keep on!!

[@PosgstJvsysfeuz-lr7wr]

Not convinced on the comparison as i have been using chrome os flex on a 8 years old laptop with amazing results. I woule imagine for USD300 you can buy a new chromebook and have better performance than what you are proposing.

[@JeanBrice-f5m]

Not saying it worked super well on my (MacBook pro 13 2014) screen with aerosol disinfectant rather than listerine, but it worked super well with disinfectant on mine.

[@rubensosa3154]

4:32 so crazy ... Im watching this at exactly 11:22am in California. then the apple watch says its 11:22am in the video . Im tripping !!!

[@Kosik3]

5:32 even polishing paste would be great did it to my a1425

[@rambobailey87]

I love these types of vids.

[@lukedavis436]

i found one in E-waste in mint condition for free....im shocked how it hasn't been hit with staingate yet, or rhe GPU VCORE chip failing, the worst is maybe a scuff or two or Key wear

[@nicodemuscg]

I did this with a very similar MCB like a month ago for a work friend and she loves it. She isn't not a heavy user and it works fantastic. The biggest plus with a lot of these is how much better the screen is than newer cheap laptop screens.

[@Fataha22]

Try compare it to secondhand thinkpad for better comparation

[@Ll3maFN]

you can run sonoma using OCLP too btw

[@imark7777777]

That "A" key is either worn down think typing/nails or they might've gotten a little bit of nail polish remover on there? But looking at the wear pattern on the other keys all I can think is I guess their password was AAAA....

[@adrianbas]

May I please know what bumper (brand) are you using on the iPhone?It looks amazing and I would definitely buy it for myself. Thank you and happy holidays!

[@AnthonyChopra]

My MBP 2012-15inch NonRetina works way smoother on MacOS-Sonoma with OpenCore Legacey Patcher than MacOS-Ventara was. i did here something that a 2014 was almost the same as a 2012 tho with a 2012 You Can change or upgrade the ram to 16Gb and even have 2SSD inside via using the dvd space. its only fun to have the Maxed out SSD sata 3 drives for fun but i use a second one for light data drive use and screen recordings. the system runs smooth tho the fans will need a change and i also see some apps and webpages load little slow tho using a ethernet dongle thats newer or changing the internal ethernet speeds in settings have helped tho i will say for me installing a freshinstall of Sonoma has seen way smoother open times than Ventura. .... maybe its the unlucky 13. i love how opencore works and even with some little issues with booting on some macs like the MacPro5,1 going into a Recovery drive becuse it didnt boot due to some Critical Error a few reboots and pram resets later and it boots with no major issues after. also opencore is free so always keep that in mind

[@mohammedmusa538]

I’ve gotten a retina early 2015 from eBay with only the body slightly bent and the speakers have a bit of distortion

[@Reaper0Bot0]

I tried the Listerine trick. It worked, but it got Listerine under the glass and it’s permanently ugly now.

[@polocatfan]

I hope you put in for a partial refund, this is absolutely grounds for that.

[@JaredFont]

THAT IS NOT DELAMINATION. That’s all. Merry Christmas.

[@nintendork07]

i don't understand people who straight up don't clean their crap before selling it on ebay. it takes like 30 seconds to wipe it down man. and the packing job is just as bad.

[@Tennesseeroadster222]

I bought one for 144, 16gig 256, and then I bought a upgraded board to 2.6 from 2.4

[@KOSMOS1701A]

well now i know what to do with my own macbook, especially if you got 8 hours out of a new battery.

[@Anne6621]

can't some kind of window tint work or a spray coating work on the screen ???

[@Detroitgearshift]

I need that wallpaper 😩 16:50

[@dennistimmermans6368]

But but but bro. It’s open. Pls change the more then 10 year old cooling plast 😢

[@jldwolfe]

My daily is a 2015 air with 4 gig ram running Sonoma.

[@NinjAsylum]

Suisei .. always. Gotta love it.

[@23mmlol]

I too fixed my 2014 screen with mouth wash 🤣

[@s72-h6i]

I have the same exact model and my laptop is stuck on the blank white screen that doesn't work

[@mxss115]

Man, this made sense when it was a sub $200 Chromebook killer, but after repairs it just doesn’t seem worth it for the price. I bought a lightly used HP envy X360 15 inch, with a Ryzen 5 4500u, 8 Gb of ram (which I think is even user upgradable) and a 256gb Ssd for $300 from a pawn store. Battery and screen did not need replacing, and it wasn’t grimy AF. All that to say, I’m glad you fixed the screen instead of replacing it. PS: the writing is the serial number for the computer, so the bottom case was replaced by Apple at some point. I worked at an official Apple repair depot for a while and that’s what we’d have to do to keep the serial number on the laptop, since replacement bottom cases did not have a serial etched on them.

[@welshe222]

ye not to mention macOS is very limited for 90% of users, maybe its okay for the 10% of mac users, or people who install linux or opencore legacy patcher to get new mac software to actually run and even then the issues are not worth it lol even a cheap ass huawei 5500u laptop will trump this in everything, including running all windows stuff natively

[@sanriosonderweg]

Just get a windows machine, there is no end to the hole of possible "fixes" required to make a used Apple machine work.

[@ThisUploaded]

Throw CS6 editions of Ps and Premier on this bad boy and you'll be off to the races

[@rj7855]

I had one like that as de as work pc until 2021... Never liked it, glad that Mac only policy was cancelled and I was allowed to switch to a laptop with a matte screen and with linux

[@sihasperera8163]

I have an m1 air and I got a case and keyboard cover should I keep the keyboard cover on when I close the lid or remove it? this is my first Mac and I want it to last for more than 5 years lmao 🤣

[@irensaga561]

I wouldn’t risk putting anything between the screen and keyboard when I close my Mac. The older MacBooks can delaminate quite badly, but I haven’t seen it at all on my M1 Air. I just put it into a zippy sleeve thing when not in use.

[@Denki]

The keyboard cover was pretty awful from a usability perspective. Using it or ditching it won't really impact the life of your screen coating since Apple has long fixed this 2010's-era issue.

[@sihasperera8163]

thanks a lot @@Denki but my issue is the display getting cracked as some people say that it adds extra pressure and that in the long run will crack the lcd I wonder if it is true?

[@sihasperera8163]

so do you use a keyboard cover?@@irensaga561 I heard that it adds pressure and will cause the lcd to crack is it true tho?

[@Holycurative9610]

$400ish for a ten year old machine that doesn't get security updates is not good value for money. You can buy 3 year old machines on W10 for better money that runs what you want to run and, yeh, I know it's a macbook so you pay 300 for the apple and 100 for the hardware. I bought a GL702-vm with 16gb of ram, a 6gb 1060, i5-6300 and a battery that lasts 14 seconds for under GB£225 and I use it connected to my TV for YT and a bit of gaming, it runs AC Odyssey just fine.

[@tubztergaming5700]

Hi orange juice gaming 🍊

[@kelvinsullivan1126]

add thermalpaste :)

[@gh0stm0nst3r6]

Great vid

[@nscian2]

I feel like Ken has a really big misunderstanding as to what you can do with a Chromebook. Especially a model that supports Chromebook plus. I'd really like to see he or Austin try a 3-400 dollar Chromebook.

[@cheesetoast99]

Not having a cloth between the macbooks top and the desk while polishing made me cringe. hello scratches. Also, those hard shell cases cause the machine to run warmer and can lead to failures.

[@Void.e]

if you put linux on this mac it would be a way better experience than macos

[@UzumeCEDC]

Same computer as mine except i have the 15 inch model

[@technewb8241]

It takes a real piece of shit to develop a proprietary storage port to prevent use of a proliferated standard. And an even bigger piece of shit to move to soldered storage when they fail to corner the market.

[@CombatSloth]

Lordy you had me sweating with the battery. 1) always unplug the battery when you work with it being opened up. 2) alcohol (isopropyl) is your friend when releasing adhesive. Technically heat as well, but I imagine it was difficult to do that with in this case. For future reference, get those tools coated in alcohol while chiseling away at basically any adhesive that keeps a battery secured down. 😅

[@Andrew-ky8oc8cq4n]

But, how does the inside of that macbook smell? It's a shame you don't have someone there that can answer that question 🤣

[@JeskidoYT]

No alcohol bottle for repair cleaning? Huh?

[@sssyt4837]

Denki denki 😂

[@АндрійПозняков-н2ф]

You’ve forgot to change a termalpaste(

[@rafaelappleseed8140]

Unfortunately all retina mac’s delaminate :(

[@DeejayFranks]

Can i buy from you this particular laptop

[@erick_sdns2897]

me watching this with my map 15" from 2010 and 4gb of ram 😨

[@Craider79]

You can get a 2016-2018 Lenovo laptop with an I7 for that price m8! That's a horrible pick!

[@itsdeonlol]

W Listerine!!!!

[@gaveup]

Ya but, can you put Windows on it?

[@linuxares]

I will never use Listerine in my mouth ever again.....

[@dvdmike007]

300 would get you a decent windows laptop easily

[@junechevalier]

I don't find many windows laptop within $300 range with 16gb of RAM. Sure they run newer OS and stuff, but it's a 10 year old laptop we're talking about

[@adammarks4491]

@@junechevalier you can just upgrade it 99% of the time unless you go for the ultrabooks, you can get 16gb of ddr3/ddr4 laptop ram for like 20/30 bucks

[@Holycurative9610]

@@junechevalier I've just bought a laptop, an Asus ROG with a 6gb 1060, i5-6300 and 16gb of ram (upgradeable to 32gb) for just under £225. The 16gb kit of DDR4 is under £30 from CEX here in the UK so £250 for a pretty good spec laptop about 5/6 years old but people still want a 10 year old laptop because it says Apple. When my Asus arrived it worked straight out of the box and you can game on it because of the 1060, the 512gb nvme drive and 1TB hard drive also give me lots of storage and I can swap the HDD for an SSD if I want to. You gotta think with your head and your wallet when buying a laptop/PC.

[@doobix]

Replacing the 10 year old thermal paste would've been a nice thing to do as well

[@Cosmonautchronicles]

Computer innovation has stagnated recently. A lot of powerful tech is cheap these days.

[@rano12321]

or just get an older thinkpad.

[@dlb3232]

Mark David Chapman

[@shaunmorrissey7313]

give me a chromebook any day and I hate google, just not quite as much as i hate apple

[@MrozikPL1]

Can i get wallpaper ? 😅😅😅

[@TCLe]

Suisei jumpscare

[@claycassin8437]

Sheesh- I paid that exact same amount of money, 175 dollars, for a 2013 Toshiba Kirabook(original price $2100) with a 2K touchscreen and an i7 CPU several years ago on eBay...and it arrived in mint perfect condition. No screen issues at all. It is still working beautifully to this day. Maybe don't get an Apple next time?

[@tjeuke9374]

The anti glare coating getting off is to this day still a mayor issue. This because of our finger oils transferring from the keyboard to the screen. The rubber on the side is simple not creating a big gap between the screen and keyboard. Got mine replaced twice for free luckely, now i have a microfiber between it from screensacerz.

[@SvenskaIdioterna]

Supposedly they claim that even a microfibre cloth in size is enough to potentially damage screens because of the tiny marginals. For that reason they say you shouldn’t use any stickers despite the keycaps quickly turning shiny and not even the thinnest keyboard cover but yeah, I don’t know. Might be ok normally but what if the cloth bunches up a bit sometimes? They really should god damn consider to sacrifice a few mm for slightly bigger keycaps that can be made of a more durable plastic that don’t start rubbing off almost instantly and so keys don’t touch the screen. I guess another potential way to deal with the screen oil problem, just having a microfibre cloth close by at any time and you can wipe the keyboard a little before closing it, just a few quick swipes. Might even help combat the shiny keys issue a little… or make it worse, haha.

[@tjeuke9374]

@@SvenskaIdioterna I have mine for 2 years now over my keyboard and my screen is still like new, no smudges, no scratches. its not the size of the keycaps, its just our oily fingers transfering to the screen when closed. I clean my keyboard every month with a micro fiber and some alcohol. Wet wipe and afterwards a dry wipe to ensure its totaly clean. Mine do start a bit to shine buy the screen is wat you are seeing all the time, I dont mind te keyboard

[@Wizard883LOL]

Cool Video

[@chriscasillas]

I think videos like this tell you all you need to know about how good MacBooks are. Try doing this with a 10 year old computer from any other manufacturer and see if you get similar results. Not happening!

[@Holycurative9610]

I upgrade laptops all the time, laptops from 5-10 years ago, and also PCs from 5-10 years ago and I haven't needed adaptors for swapping drives and the ram is never soldered on the board and the screens haven't had the anti glare coating peeled off. I can also buy parts for these machines easily at a reasonable price and after 20 years in the repair business I can tell you Apple make some of the most anti repair machines out there and they have many, many, problems.

[@DeejayFranks]

Kindly let me Know Okay, Want This Laptop

[@galen__]

👍