I bought a huge PILE of 32 MacBooks for cheap. Can I fix them? [Part 1]

Thanks to NordVPN for sponsoring this video! Get Exclusive NordVPN deal here: NordVPN.com/luke. It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!
Special thanks to iFixit for sponsoring this project, check out their parts and tools, and see more resources below! iFixit.com/lukemiani
I bought a PILE of 32 MacBooks for just $700! This is by far the largest scale project I've ever done on the channel with over 100 pounds of MacBooks to fix. In today's video we'll try to get as many of these machines working as possible without spending a single dollar to do it! Then, next week in part two we're going to up the game even further and try to restore all the working MacBooks to nice, usable condition! This should be a fun ride!
RESOURCES:
iFixit Pro Tech toolkit: amzn.to/3Ifszne
Repair guides for 13" MacBook Pro: www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook...
Repair guides for 15" MacBook Pro: www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook...
iFixit battery fix kits: www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/MacB...
DDR3 RAM for 2009/2010: amzn.to/3JCRBg0
DDR3 RAM for 2011/2012: amzn.to/3LO6pdE
Inexpensive SSD: amzn.to/34Pz1mp
Cleaning supplies: amzn.to/35gHkHK
Follow me on Twitter: / lukemiani
Follow me on Twitch: / lukemiani
Join my Subreddit! / lukemianiyoutube
Gear:
iFixit Pro Toolkit: amzn.to/3bYIzdM
Panasonic Lumix GH5: amzn.to/3b3oMtj
Leica 12-60MM Lens: amzn.to/3hQ5URf
Sennheiser MKH 416: amzn.to/31zGwt2
Zoom H6: amzn.to/2ECYSk6
Sennheiser MKE 440: amzn.to/2JRwIRU
Edelkrone SliderOne V2: amzn.to/33mTZmt
Amazon Links are affiliate codes and generate small commission to support the channel

[@Struwex]

This is the content that makes me happy

[@King_K_Rool_]

@Jiham Mabya I clicked on it and all I saw was a hairy Bosnian man, can I have my money back please?

[@ilyasg2108]

hey i follow you on instagram lmao

[@Olli-Tech]

Feel exactly same!

[@Struwex]

@@ilyasg2108 haha yes i know you too

[@onewizzard]

do you know if Luke will sell one of those laptops to me?

[@jeffeeb]

By now, Luke should’ve already won a badge from Apple: official recycler

[@arccityangels]

yeah, now if they can stop making their computers obsolete due to old GPUs; we can officially end eco waste.

[@puretalent7]

I love seeing old hardware get a second life.

[@MrC0MPUT3R]

Apple loses money when people do this. They would never give him a badge.

[@BilisNegra]

Not presented by Apple, to be sure...

[@jeffeeb]

Guys, it is a joke

[@letiziasparks2902]

I absolutely love Luke's repair/refurbished videos, he has a sincere way of teaching with clarity, humor and at times earnest approach to connecting with his audience. It's refreshing. Keep it up Luke. If there's a way to breathe new life into older electronics instead of supporting waste/throw away culture I totally support it! Thank you.

[@lukemiani]

Thanks I appreciate it!

[@alisonmcgregor2002]

YESSSSSSS i love his videos like this

[@rsprockets7846]

@@lukemiani yeah real cool do you collect era specific hardware compatible with the laptop or desktop?

[@ben2808]

Jesus Christ loves you ❤️

[@mattjoe67]

Tell me one thing you learned from his tutorial, Luke is not teaching us how to fix a computer, he does not want to share his knowledge with his audience. I did not learn anything from his tutorial. This is how It works, when we see these type of tutorial, the audience learn from It, If you search , how to replace a matchbook battery, you will see step by step procedure. which we all learn from those tutorial. When Luke present his tutorial, he fast forward his tutorial and the audience not learning anything.His expectation is to watch the entire tutorial, like, subscribe, that is all. We want to learn something from presentation or tutorial, so the audience don't act like statues staring at screen, not gaining any thing from It.

[@cxt2210]

I love these repair videos

[@bedheadjames]

Hey Luke, you may already know this, but 2011 15” MBPs aren’t dead when the discrete GPU fails. There is a purely software fix that disables it and permanently forces the use of the iGPU. You lose the ability to plug in an external display, but I applied this fix to a friend’s 2011 MBP about 2 years ago and it’s still going strong! That’s after he took it to a repair shop and they essentially told him to throw it away…

[@luked3172]

As someone who has a 13" MBP mid-2010 as a daily driver, I am joyous to see so many MacBooks of the same era have continued life. Excellent job!!

[@keaton718]

That was a fine year for MacBooks, good vintage.

[@Arachnosoft]

Kudos to that seller who kindly packed all those MacBooks in a very nice way, with padded foam and separators!

[@BullyParkerMaguire]

Ok but what did they do to get them in that state?

[@roidster4401]

@@BullyParkerMaguire ok but who cares

[@BullyParkerMaguire]

@@roidster4401 no I'm not mad I'm just wondering

[@roidster4401]

@@BullyParkerMaguire They were just spoiled college brats that owned these laptops and destroyed them

[@oristechreviews]

Finalllyyyyyy love these macbook repair videosss, gonna save this one for lunch

[@Tamay.]

Launch

[@oristechreviews]

@@Tamay. my bad lmao

[@darkythedragon]

Luke, I have a suggestion for you regarding the MacBooks that have GPU issues. By using the schematics or some tutorials online you can easily desolder some parts that don't require lots of skill and make those MacBook work with the integrated graphics instead of the dedicated failed one. It's worth a shot and it might be a new challenge/ content you could bring on your channel!

[@Arachnosoft]

The faulty dedicated GPUs can also be software-disabled permanently using some command lines in recovery mode. I did this on a failing 2009 MBP, it worked great and was kept disabled on each reboot. Unfortunately, that MBP was missing some parts as well (the bottom case) and both keyboard and trackpad were not working, so I had to sell it for parts. But I sold it for € 40, after buying it in a box of parts like Luke did for... € 50.

[@theairaccumulator7144]

Would probably make the performance extremely shit. Old intel igpus weren't good at all.

[@vivek_v]

@@theairaccumulator7144 The dGPU shouldn't activate in normal use, and it's not like the rest of the hardware is fast...

[@scamchan]

@@Arachnosoft so you buy these boxes of parts from where??

[@joostwagelaar8837]

@@scamchan ebay

[@aspi8219]

The progress between a luke that wasn't quite sure what he's doing yet but decided to dive in anyway and the luke that tries to repair 32 macbooks simultaneously makes me happy

[@CashmereSky]

Awesome video…. As someone that was a Mac Genius for almost 4 years around the era these machines were prime… you’d easily qualify as one haha. Videos like this are so satisfying. Subscribed. Also I used to have a 2011 15” with anti-glare! It was great!

[@RowdyGeronimo]

Classic Miani video! Luke doesnt need Apple news to make good tech content. This is why his channel stands out from the rest. Thanks for your hard work, Luke.

[@Nathan_Lundstrom]

I love this. You’re bringing life back into these older machines that still can be used for a good amount of fun (: excited for the next video!!!

[@JamesLustre]

Yay another lot of Macbooks and repairing video! This is pretty interesting Luke!

[@ashliedm1957]

Watching your repair videos helps me to survive this pandemic here in philippines, I'm just a student with a enough skills to fix gadgets to make money. Thank you luke!

[@HCWHunter]

Luke; Have you considered trying the jumper wire fix to the 2011 MacBook Pros with graphics card failures to force use of the Intel onboard graphics? I had mine fixed like that and the machine works perfectly fine for most tasks but just doesn't have the better graphics. You can get some more use out of an otherwise trashed machine.

[@djbigdavethefyrm]

I love this stuff as I built a 27” iMac ,2 Thunderbolt displays to go with my 2012 13” MacBook Pro and 2012 15” retina. My dream set up

[@Wotsit7781]

Love the content Luke. Brilliant to see the old tech coming back to life

[@Christian_Ferguson]

I bought the Protech tool kit and I love it! The tools are quite good quality, and don’t just have to be used on electronics. I used mine to replace the mirrors on my car, and was able to take prices of of the school bus I ride on. Would definitely recommend getting one.

[@creekfreak1997]

Well done on this Luke!! I can't imagine how much time and effort went into making this video, but as always, loved watching the repairs come together and see what you could really get out of the whole thing. Looking forward to the next one!

[@markbryant452]

Have you ever considered setting up a side business where you sale the MacBooks that you repair? Like Cars & Bids?

[@Xen-s_dreamagination]

Oh the joy when you see (and hear) these MacBooks come to life. =) This was so much fun to watch. Looking forward to part 2. :))

[@andresserna]

Tech Luke’s debut was absolutely phenomenal, can’t wait to see more of him!

[@mikesadorf]

Fantastic video and great work with the Macs! Always happy to see electronic upcycling!

[@KurtHalfyard]

I'm still happily using my Late 2008 MacBook pro, with a 2TB SSD and 8Gb Ram upgrades a few years ago. Running El Capitan. It does everything I need it to do, and it has the old registered Adobe Suite where it was not in the subscription model. It is a lovely unibody vintage machine that can still do practical work.

[@toumabernabe737]

Can we just appreciate how much Luke helped to reduce the tech-waste? It´s incredible how he gives second-lifes to many devices.

[@davidlarson2534]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I’ve done the same with 2nd gen iMacs, B&W and G&W Macs. This used to be what I did, now retired. Thanks for the entertainment and the opportunity to see someone else work. LOL What I don’t miss is the smell.

[@wilsontanlk]

Wow, that was really refreshing to watch. You have just regain confidence to people who are looking to bulk purchase faulty MacBooks and refurbish them. Good job!

[@Slurkz]

Great one! I’m looking forward to the follow up video! Thanks Luke. 💜

[@pineappleapricotjelly4706]

I'm excited for that cleaning and adding best components part!

[@TheBigBazzy]

Wow wow wow. What a video Luke. You're my favorite apple based channel due to your knowledge. You're like a PC guy who knows his Macs.

[@MysterSer333]

You helped me remember my childhood joy of restoring tech. Thanks Luke!

[@rareformtx]

Love your channel, bro. Discovered it a few weeks ago, and have slowly made my way through most of your recent content!

[@mikema6239]

This video makes me comfortable,nice work!Luke,keep going,don't stop.

[@s_m_a9520]

I'm really looking forward for part 2 hope it comes soon :)

[@hxbidh]

Great job 👏 you really made my day. Can’t wait for part 2 💖💖💖

[@ricardoacostal]

Nice video Luke! Excellent content and exceptional effort!

[@silasweaver8268]

I love this type of video, keep up the good work Luke!

[@bobliljenquist9860]

Fascinating! Way over my head, but fun to watch you do your magic on old computers.

[@Jay-sd1kf]

great video Luke, really got into buying/selling/fixing iMacs & MacBooks because of your videos!

[@MrCameraJunkie]

Great video, New to the channel. excited for this series 🔥

[@tubularap]

Nice how methodically you took on this project. Satisfying to watch these cast-aways come to life again.

[@MrFloris]

I can't imagine making a video out of a project like this. WOW, fantastic work. A joy to watch this video, let's go part 2 :D

[@SathiyanKutty]

Amazing job Luke. I watch all your videos and your work is outstanding. Hope you and iFixit will consider donating these to a good cause.

[@pcar928fan]

Love watching you rehab all these Apple products! I always wanted one of those 17” MacBooks!

[@Olli-Tech]

This is so awesome, repair vlog! Absolutely celebrate this video 😀

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

I do the exact same thing, i bargain for laptops online, sometimes even for free if i am lucky, i try to fix 'em up and sell 'em on or give them to family members and friends who don't have a lot of money, so they can be more productive in their lifes and have something nice and it makes me happy so yeah, i am glad to see that you got so many working out of 2 boxes of parts basically. Makes my heart sing man really!

[@puretalent7]

Currently watching this on my free MacBook pro I rescued from the dumpster... I love watching you save old macs!

[@Coker-Time]

These are my favorite videos you make. Fixing possible E-Waste into a usable computer again. If Apple would do the same they ne all the better for it. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next one. Just how capable can you make them. Speed, Ram Capacity, Max Hard Drive that also fast.

[@James_David]

u go thru so mucn work for us LuKe! so underrated is your channel

[@Zebra_Paw]

PRAM resets have often worked for me. But that's when it posts with booting issues, if it does not post it won't even reset the PRAM. When working with these, don't forget Dosdude1 patcher and even OpenCore Legacy Patcher. If you stick to Catalina, if you have no APFS support you can still use the OpenCore bootloader, it makes it so you don't have to see all the weird code of Dosdude1 custom bootloader as it's much better!

[@Sirmellowman]

I like how your main worries about that battery that looks like a pillow is the fact that it could bend the case or ruin the track pad. When that thing could literally explode and burn your face off and burn your house down while you run to the sink screaming, and you just set it on the floor....lol. have you ever seen videos of ballooned lithium ion batteries exploding?

[@FullyGeekingOut]

I cant wait for the next video! Can you add in the description on where to buy these lots of MacBooks. I find this to be a fun hobby for me. Thanks

[@DanielManners-IT]

This is amazing man, solid work!!

[@Weather_Wonders]

I love your channel! Thank you for the video. Great job!!

[@Prinzessin_Luna]

Hey Luke, another brilliant video. You looked a little bad, hope you're doing well. Every working MacBook reduces waste. So I love to see how you get things working again. Often an old 2010 device with Catalina or Linux (prefer elementary) is enough for the daily work. Hope to learn more about the known issues with the old models like GPU failure etc. Thanks for your content. Best wishes Tobbes

[@TheSpotify95]

Great that you manage to get so many working Macbooks out of that lot! I reckon that, with a bit of outlay in spare parts, you could get even more of those working nicely, and then you'll also have some spare parts to sell in terms of the ones you can't get working.

[@ericbauer4559]

Excellent video, can't wait for part two.

[@dmthrowaway2542]

Entertaining, but the most important tool you're missing is a multimeter. For example, that "Bad GPU" one, MIGHT have been a bad GPU, or could be a Jtag issue, a bad IC, or maybe just a resister or capacitor that's shorted to ground. A multimeter, (& schematics if you can get them), & a decent soldering station could have gotten more of those devices working.

[@scottgriz]

I just found your channel. I love seeing these old machine brought back to life. I just did this with 4 old 2009/10 Macbooks and Macbook pros. Got 3 working ones and sold them. How long did it take you to work on and repair all of these?

[@ShelleyHannaArt]

This is fantastic - can’t wait for the next video 💻

[@kirkdub1john436]

I’m really looking forward to see the upgrades 👏👏

[@TheEmrickman]

Love this type of content.

[@marcushunt63]

So freaking awesome. I do this but not at this scale! Bravo man!

[@joe-ni3zc]

Tech luke shook me to my core

[@joe-ni3zc]

I'm getting 2009 Mike posner vibes and I am even more scared

[@dimovstanimir]

Great video my friend, I really enjoyed it!

[@shsh7474]

Good stuff Luke! Out of curiosity, what will you be doing with the fixed/restored MacBooks?

[@davemarcelo_]

Keeping old Macs out of landfill makes me so happy. Good job, Luke!

[@Teesixhundred]

Mac mix and match, Great work Luke!

[@MadHeaven_YT]

I respect your patience on this project

[@bdavali4342]

Kudos to you Luke for resurrecting these 12 year old Macbooks! Too bad a 2007 Macbook Pro is too old to refurbish. My wife has one and it can't run beyond Snow Leopard so she uses it for playing DVDs, and uses an iPAD for the rest of what she does. I bought her a 2015 Macbook Air in 2015 and have taken it over since she never started writing her book she wanted to write. Looking to buy an M1 Macbook Pro as my last computer as i turn 77 this year.

[@sherifseha2891]

I love these type of videos. Amazing work

[@jasm817]

We enjoy watching these projects you take on.. ✌️😀

[@circuittoys]

UNBELIEVABLE... fantastic video!

[@nightstringers]

I just found this channel .I have to say I love this guy and his channel. Fun to watch.

[@JeadilsonBezerra]

Love those vids. Don’t have the patience neither the skill but I really love to watch the process.

[@Efraindenver]

Always interesting, 👍I'm sure young viewers got a good ideas for their future. Keep it up bud

[@nicholasbriolabriola_f20]

Very good video, great work!

[@JoeyDoesTech]

Only just discovered the channel and loved this video. Subscribed and looking forward to past and future content :D

[@salvomarchi2761]

People: buys a recent MacBook for 700 bucks Luke: buys 32 old MacBook for 700 bucks

[@molinkie]

Well, that was fun! Nice work!

[@8bitwiz_]

I'm currently using a 2011 17" that I bought at a pawn shop years ago (intentionally buying it as a spare) and only started using it after my original 17" died a second time, followed by one of the 2012 13" with USB3 (they have no dedicated GPU to fail, but the screen is so tiny). Then I went through my parts pile of various slabs of aluminum and found this 17" that worked. I have personally replaced just about every part in a 2011-2012 era MBP, except for logic board repair and screens. Replacing keyboards is a real pain (over 70 screws!), but less of a pain than a keyboard with a shorted or broken matrix. But I still haven't had a screen failure, so I've got plenty of spare screens! (I should mention that 13" and 15" parts are often interchangeable, but the 17" has differences, like a longer flex cable for the keyboard and trackpad.) I have been scrupulously using gfxCardStatus after every boot to disable the dedicated GPU. (if I simply disable the driver kext, graphics performance is awful) It's been at least two years so far, and it is STILL WORKING, though it did need a new battery in that time. There is still one thing broken. The speakers seem to have ripped their cones, so they buzz at high volumes of some frequencies. They're glued together as assemblies, and it's hard to find replacement 17" speaker assemblies. I still haven't had time to try the "glue around the edges" trick that I heard of. I'll probably get an M1 in a few months, but it took that long for Apple to make something that sucks less enough in build quality than their Retina and later Intel models that I'll even consider touching it. My main thought about all this is that if it weren't for the GPU problem, the 2011/2012 would probably have been the best used Mac laptops ever. Intel didn't make their laptop CPUs significantly better in the past ten years, and having sockets for 16GB of RAM is much better than finding old laptops with 4GB or 8GB soldered in. Also a 2.5" SATA port is better than soldered 256GB or 512GB of flash. I've got 16GB RAM and 2TB of SSD in my current 17". And I've never had the misfortune of having to use a "butterfly" keyboard.

[@harcoremonkey]

I just love how the cylinder Mac Pro just stands in your place along other vintage tech.

[@scogginsscoggins]

This video is classic Miani. How to take two boxes of broken Macs and turn it into a positive experience. Terrific. Super fun.

[@Olslov]

This is the content i subscribed for! Love it

[@Sidenseen1]

Very cool videos,,, I was wondering how I can buy one of the MacBooks from one of your videos.... It would be fun to show my kids the videos of what you did and then present them with one!! Teaches a good lesson on how to use your mind and effort to repair=thanks for the content

[@martinarnolddtpa]

I love these kind of Videos! Absolutely inspiring... And a reminder not to landfill old MacBooks too soon ;-)

[@rsprockets7846]

yeah but when do they just plain wear out?

[@Stray161]

Awesome project and video, to reduce ewaste ! Hope we'll get more videos like this one on your channel Luke ! cheers from France, peace not war...

[@Mbro-dq2do]

Bro you just taught me so much! Thank You. I just bought a 2012 MacBook Pro for 75$ on ebay simply to use for music on youtube and basic internet to save stress and wear on my brand new M1 Air. This helped a lot. Apples product longevity is insane

[@martinjacko1411]

Great job Luke... only 1 thing is missing and is the announcment of new home for the macbooks...

[@danieleppelsheimer9273]

Great job Luke Is the part 2 link available? Thanks

[@TT-xp8dq]

love it already without even starting the video !!!

[@myVersatileChannel]

Great job, Luke, for taking the time to bring back to live those MacBook Pros! I’m sure you’ll find good homes for them. 🙂

[@EpicBr0]

The amount of time you put into this one video is insane! Keep it up!

[@nathan_kie]

These are like my favourite types of videos with old apple unboxings

[@Pandaliciousness]

The “wooooooo!” For the 15” anti reflective got me. I still have a 2009 17” mbp with the anti reflective screen sitting around but working

[@ahscott2001]

We just keep increasing the numbers. One day, he's gonna buy 100+ and nobody's gonna bat an eye.

[@jahanas22]

Looking forward to part 2.

[@Alvin-Nukman]

This. Is. Epic. Keep it up luke!

[@joshmin13]

I get so much inspiration from your videos.