Trash Picked MacBooks - Will They Work?

[@asadfarraj]

I love watching old Macbook restorations, mostly because tehy can actually support it, and also because it's so satisfying to see such beautiful machines be restored.

[@Evgen13Great]

They're not so common in Russia so yeah, watching people restoring old Macbooks is great. I'd love to use some of them actually...

[@fenix144]

Mate we watching the same machines? Those are hunks of plastic.

[@theblinky_]

Wild that 15 years later and Apple still offers the same 256 GB on their base Macbooks.

[@sihamhamda47]

If the "inflation" on storage needs and app sizes are correct, 256GB of storage needs 15 years ago should be equal to 2TB these days

[@894MUSIC]

@@sihamhamda47 *_W O W_* that is actually cool to know

[@eternia15]

If you don't play games and stream movies and music. What would you need more space for?

[@tristan6509]

​@eternia15 if all you do is internet browsing then you don't really need a macbook either, a $100 chromebook would suffice Offering only 256gb of storage on such an expensive device is mind boggling.

[@eternia15]

@@tristan6509 But, people do more on a laptop then consuming media. The programming experience is quite good on a Mac, but source code doesn't consume a lot of space. People use a Mac for MS Office, which integrates quite neatly with iPadOS. But yeah, I agree, 256 GB is scuffed and it's just there for the profit margin of Apple. I wanted to give a counterargument.

[@julianj8609]

The skeuomorphic design of previous operating systems was so nice.

[@MikeLikesChannel]

Was a Mac Genius from 2007 to 2014. I can repair these in my sleep to this day 💚 Every screw and fastener I see in my head 😆 The Y bits are tri-lobe and Apple also uses penta-lobe (5). To check inverter, shine a flashlight on the display, you should see a faint flashing ? mark. If you don’t, probably LCD or MLB.

[@Ayrora-]

man i love how repairable these older macbooks are. Apple practically encouraged user upgrades with how easy stuff like the battery, ram and hard drive were

[@fatalfallacy]

popped out or non clickable trackpads, one‘s favourite macbook battery replacement indicator since generations

[@gayfemboyuwu]

I love these macbooks! My dad has an old one in the basement and its mint! I'd love to get a mint one for myself too

[@originalsince2oo970]

My great granddad still uses his its so cool seeing it fully working just shows if you take care of your stuff it will last

[@LarixusSnydes]

I have a 2007 white MacBook. Used it during my university study. Now it runs Lubuntu 22.04 ( still supported ). I still use it occasionally to record analog audio. Another function is as an extra terminal for server labs. It does have cracked piece of plastic close to the power light, but that does not impact it's function

[@kaitlyn__L]

Mine started kernel-panicking multiple times a day, and Apple replaced it under warranty with the 13" unibody MBP. That 13" unibody machine is fairly nice, but I do miss that little white plastic slab.

[@ddreaded1]

This is so funny because my wife was at a garage sale and they had a bunch of macbooks for 3 bux each because "none worked" couple days later, I have a g4 ibook, a very last gen maxed out g4 macbook pro, a shockingly nice late 2005 13 pro, and a very new i7 15 pro. all of them worked beautifully after a bit of os love, but the new pro screen was dead so its now a headless "slabtop". also ended up with a couple nice mac looking windows 11 pc a couple years old. and all the baterys are ... functional! not bad at all for 18 bux and a few irritated nights. now I am playing with weird oses for the apple things.

[@Therandomness1235]

Based on one of these laptops having Adobe suite and the other having a folder named tomcat, I would guess that these were used for web development. Adobe has some useful solutions for front-end development, such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash/Animate and XD. Apache Tomcat is a server solution that can act as a container for Java based servlets and JavaServer pages(enhanced HTML).

[@mrfoxesite69482]

juicy

[@thepcuser5469]

The inflated battery you got out from the 2010 MacBook could actually be a hazard due to how inflated it is. Good thing you safely disposed it. (ironic cuz my laptop has an inflated battery)

[@miztatone918]

These were handed out in school's to students in tulsa oklahoma. There were thousands of these things available at every pawnshop and used computer stores after they switched to chromebooks.

[@exaltedb]

I used to have a mid-2010 poly MacBook and with a ssd, it was still quite the usable thing

[@Ultra-Giraffe]

Is there any risk of signing into Apple ID on old Macs?

[@gameo7]

These macbooks bring me back to elementary school. My teachers would always bring around these and i even got to use one a few times. Definitely a much different feeling than modern day macbooks

[@Negiku]

Nice to see they actually come with a dedicated gpu. They might still be usable for watching movies, youtube, and general browsing.

[@jpsm4002]

It always amazes me how you can find these pcs in the trash so easily. Where I live nobody throws apple products away. They always try to sell it. Great vid, btw!

[@unoriginalname3442]

Not trash but e-recycling. A lot of e-recyclers take peoples old tech, wipe the drives, and resell them on ebay for a profit. Allows for people to get rid of their old stuff instead of it going to a landfill, erecyclers to be a middle man who receives a bit of cash, and the buyer who gets damn fine tech for a cheap price. Far better system than chucking it in the bin.

[@mrfoxesite69482]

america has these

[@chrism869]

Yeah same ,no one really throws away apple products where I live ,only older windows laptops

[@mrfoxesite69482]

@@chrism869 but in america they do. i know youre in asia or something because you have put comma wrong. its, hello not its ,hello.

[@chrism869]

@mrfoxesite no I'm from Europe, I just make some typing mistakes sometimes

[@anon-55-t2x]

Yeah, those bloated batteries can explode. Good thinking having the first thing you do being getting rid of it!

[@superwholockedlokidotherfa4862]

I remember using these for my high school graphic design classes. You unlocked so many memories with just the first couple minutes 😂

[@FlamingPhoenix40]

Man just seeing these white macbooks brings back so many memories from my highschool days. School I went to was kinda special in our city bc every student got a macbook. Other schools in the region did not have student issued laptops yet. Chromebooks and iPads for schools weren't a thing yet. Was my first laptop, mid-2009 white boxy one. Eventually they switched to the more rounded onces, and even the 11 inch macbook air at some point, but I believe the eventually stopped the program soon after I graduated. I still miss my white macbook. We traded it in for a mid-2012 macbook pro when it died. I do still have that one thankfully!

[@RandomCsDude]

Can't wait for the inverter replacement video Michael :D Good content as always, keep it up my good sir.

[@MichaelMJD]

Thank you!

[@mrfoxesite69482]

pls make fastest direly waiting.

[@papa_goobs]

I've wanted one of these for myself since I was a kid and saw the middle schoolers using them. Crazy to see you covering them.

[@burts06]

i love seeing these older macbooks get restored and seeing all of the leftover things on those hard drives :)

[@douhacomcastnet]

I’m looking forward to the fix video for the screen inverters.

[@daedalao756]

I trash picked a late 2008 MacBook 5,1 recently. Threw some ram and an ssd into it as well as macOS Sonoma. Pretty decent little web browser.

[@andrasszabo7386]

That 2010 Macbook is notorious for keyboard failure. I had about 3 of 5 with the same issue. Replacement keyboard(with housing) solved it.

[@JesBuscus94]

I used to work in an electronics recycling center and these MacBooks tend to have battery failures to the point where the trackpad pops right out of place and possibly shatters in the process. We had so many MacBooks that had no batteries or trackpads or even screens due to the battery expanding.

[@windowsnt63official]

I've never seen a trackpad popping out because of a battery before.

[@thesomewhatyou]

It's pretty rare, but it happens 😐

[@spartanretro]

I see it more often with cheaper Windows laptops

[@HolgerNestmann]

We had some dells in the company., One colleague had that issue. Didn‘t want to sit beside him

[@mavfan1]

You can’t say that anymore

[@theranterboy7884]

Ive seen them shatter many times from that

[@myleft9397]

wow shocked those specs on the second one were exactly the same XD great video

[@catgirl_eva]

I'd try getting macOS installed first and then try turning up the backlight on the two pre-unibody MacBooks. I brought home a 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro that was believed to have a faulty backlight, but it was just turned all the way down.

[@Vaionko]

One of them booted and he checked and it was all the way up.

[@mrfoxesite69482]

Vaikino, so true.

[@andaro.77]

funny enough, I actually am writing this from a MacBook7,1, but it's not running MacOS, but Arch Linux instead. it somewhat works.

[@RustyAviation]

I’m running windows 7 ultimate on my MacBook 7,1. Glad to see someone else still doing the weird goofy things I do too!

[@andaro.77]

@@RustyAviation lol, i ended up installing OS X Lion and Win7 Ultimate too, even bought a legit key for it

[@Rilch]

I have a couple of these old macbook that i bought from a school like 15 years ago. best 50 bucks i ever spent, I used the hell out of them. Still got them in my closet and they work great!

[@steve228uk]

I loved that unibody polycarbonate MacBook. Just such a lovely design

[@dorpenka]

My school used to have these old macbooks, i'd love to refurbish one of these and use as a daily driver for work oneday.

[@anumeon]

Missed a gag there at the end.. You could have said that one out of three working was a victory in Ibook instead of "my book" (Sorry, couldnt resist)

[@ckingpro]

I like how the Yosemite install had the iWorks 09 and the 2013 updates (which were missing some features) and only the older 09 apps were pinned

[@tahaturktha9085]

11:35 That problem sometimes also happens to my late 2013 running macOS Catalina iMac. 🖥️

[@gydo1942]

You can start the non-unibody macbooks with the keyboard off by jumping pins in the keyboard connector with tweezers. IIRC on the right side of the connector. I used to do that on mine when servicing it! And yeah the inverters were a common failure. Considering the LCD itself works its probably the inverter causing the problem.

[@DonVintaggio]

You could try the working display into the other 2 older macbooks, if the internal connectors fit. Plan B would be to get those display adapters to connect an external monitor and use the macbooks as desktops.

[@brandonsanchez7465]

Man, I remember using these MacBooks back in middle school back in the day, and seeing those models in this video feels nostalgic. It was also strange that the OS was switched to Windows 7 for some reason.

[@trr94001]

I supported those models of Macs when they were new. They were decent machines for their time.

[@mrmartywaring]

I found this MacBook in the trash @ my old job. I swapped the HDD to an SSD, upgraded the RAM & swapped the battery. It's a good web browser

[@spazzypengin]

I still love that old iBook style white chassis. I miss my 12" G4.

[@d.r.martin6301]

My white Macbook is now 15 years old and still perfectly useable. Granted, the battery lasts only a couple of hours, but that's OK. It never touches the internet, except for one financial site after a full Avast scan. And I write novels on it with an old version of Word, currently an historical mystery.

[@ThatOneCarGuy-Youtube]

Good Job MJD keep going! 🎉❤

[@simonlathwell]

With the spicy pillow battery I'm surprised the title didn't end up being "Trash Picked MacBooks - Will They Work? But Everything Exploded" LOL!

[@DanielMonteiroNit]

Reinstalling Ubuntu on my 2008 as I type this. 24.04 has issues, decided to go back to 20.04, as it works much better. With an SSD it works very well!

[@MichaelMJD]

That's awesome!

[@gydo1942]

Makes me want to install Linux on my 2007 model again.. Last time I tried it was a PITA because the EFI is 32bit..

[@ciach0_]

Another video from Michael just for our entertainment! Thank you Michael!

[@atarixle]

pretty good choice to rescue the A1181 ... I got like 13 working devices of them and I totally am in love with their form factors. I think the 5,1 (Aluminium) and later MacBook Pro 13" with its lit keyboard is the top of the best devices of this form factor, but the white (and black) MacBooks are a little lighter. I am a permanent MacBook A1181 user since 2006. The 2009 MacBook5,2 came in two configurations: 2.0 GHz, 666 MHz Memory, and 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Cuo, 800 MHz Memory. I got them both (the 2.0 GHz belongs to my wife; I got 3 of the 2.13 GHz models running El Capitan, Catalina via DOSDude1s patcher, and Monterey via OpenCore Legacy Patcher). The Intel GMA models (1,1; 2,1; 3,1; 4,1) are running Tiger, Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion; and Debian Linux. I wonder that your models have broken display backlights, because none of my 13 models ever had problems with that (contrary to other devices I had long before I owned my first MacBook). Except one - the 14th - which has a violently broken display (but also here the backlight still works).

[@gydo1942]

They are great machines. I still have a working one here (2,1). never had problems except having to replace the fan and battery. Display inverters were a common failure on laptops of the time, but I've never seen it happen on one of these either. Though the LCD still works so that leads me to believe it is actually the inverter..

[@CodeProto]

I love how easy they used to be able to be taken apart

[@alexblankenship7385]

I notice that mid 2010 has a unique rounded edge design that’s different. it looks pretty modern, I kinda wanna see Apple return to that shape but with the space black aluminum.

[@LatitudeSky]

Ah this brings back memories of my MacBookPro from the first Core Duo era. The keyboard went bonkers and would randomly flood some keys and make others not work. That was only the start of issues with that thing. Went through two screens (massive areas of dead pixels), two keyboards (ghost typing), three batteries and two power supplies, all under Apple Care. By far, the least reliable computer I have ever owned. It was nice to use. But it was broken a lot, and I babied it. That was my first Mac and my last. The benefits of using a Mac absolutely not worth the hassles.

[@insaneiaq]

Gotta love taking the entire top case off the 08/09 MacBooks to "check" for a HDD when the drive slides right out when you take the memory cover off 🙄

[@alwaysappleftd]

I prefer your videos that are Mac related versus Windows content. Thanks for making this video. Do more like this! It was really cool!

[@Ricelord4]

I still have my 2009 13" MacBookPro5,5 that also came from the trash. I dual-boot Mojave and Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS on, and it still works great. Granted, I maxed out the RAM to 8 GB DDR3, swapped out the 250 GB Hitachi SATA HDD for a 480 GB Patriot Burst SATA SSD, and swapped out the old battery for a third-party one. But I still enjoy using it even to this day. I might test out Steam in Ubuntu just to see if it can handle early to mid 2000s games like Half Life 2.

[@QibliTheSandwing12]

old MacBook repairs are godly.

[@DavidWonn]

6:23 Missed opportunity to play the "Intel Inside" jingle when that "287" sticker was exposed. ;-)

[@JonnieLahti]

Trackpad click after bloated battery may have to do with the brackets holding down the upper edge of the trackpad being stretched. But really, to make the 2010 macbook nice, you should buy a good palmrest for it, then you'll have a nice keyboard too.

[@CybersecPat]

holy crap... I'm the one who wiped that last computer. I can't believe I'm seeing it again. I recognized the files in downloads and the folder on the desktop.

[@zuneyluney]

i got a Late 08 Macbook from a Thrift store dumpster, and it worked great. Iirc it was 2021-2022

[@johnwickham]

Those ‘08 MacBooks are some of my all-time favorites. I’m swayed by nostalgia since that was my first Mac, but there’s something about that white polycarbonate that looks somehow super futuristic and ultra retro at the same time.

[@SMAAAASHTV]

15 years later and apple still hasn't broken the 8gb ram barrier on their entry level systems.

[@ApolloTheDerg]

OpenCore and Ventura on these haha, be a madlad making these Mac’s relevant to the modern day.

[@MichaelMJD]

I have yet to try out OpenCore but everything I've seen makes me want to check it out on video sometime!

[@miregoji2959]

32bit EFI. Good luck

[@Ordlnary_Gamer]

@@miregoji2959good luck? These Mac’s are already natively supported by OCLP. your also just plain wrong.

[@dylanlindsay1993]

check the cable going from the lcd to the logic board on the two macbooks with no back light... it could just be the cable! i caused a no backlight issue on my 2013 retina macbook pro because i didnt connect it right... after i reconnected it it was fine!

[@TheComputerGuy124]

hey wake up!, michael MJD just uploaded a new video!

[@karloniukas]

Thanks😂😂

[@mrfoxesite69482]

like milking comment. stop this.

[@FlintG]

I don't think I ever had a macbook before I have the 2012 mac mini that works but I did install pop os instead of mac os just to make it usable again.

[@Quamsi]

Hey Michael (or anyone else in the comments), I am a technology enthusiast, and I tend to collect older hardware like this when i get the chance. I like having stuff for nostalgia and 'just in case' compatibility, or running games on era accurate hardware, and, of course, for the sake of building the collection. For something like these macbooks, though, I wonder what could be done with them that would extend their life even further before they become ewaste (or part of someones collection)? I have considered donating functional devices to schools (of any level), but at least in the us, school curriculums are too heavily scheduled to allow teachers to really make use of devices like these for one-off educational experiences, and they arent practical for every day use. I've also considered using some of my hardware to self host applications, but realistically, anything that i would want to run on this can just be run on any given server hardware or even a pi and would be more efficient electrically. Any other options would be appreciated!

[@Radkeyboard7984]

14:10 Keyboard: doing a little dance

[@fleggle]

Ive bought job lots of laptops on ebay, mostly fine but one lot had all the drives still - wiped them all but had stuff like that national insurance numbers, travel documents etc. Scary that this stuff is just casually floating around

[@matthewrobinson1699]

2:51 THAT IS SPICY! Can I put that picture onto the Spicy Pillows Subreddit?

[@svpracer98]

Ohh another mid 2010 unibody... GTA SA and COD 4 are just about my primary memories from using one of these.

[@Robospidera1]

I love these type of MacBook are so nice… I should get 1 someday.

[@WindowsNT351Server]

New video dropped! Time to watch

[@apollolux]

I would be astonished if one of those MacBooks was the one that was stolen from right under my nose years ago, but that was in New York City.

[@RockRock-qf1wj]

that macbook on top is the same one used in the dexter show 2008

[@iPhone3GS_68]

Found a 2006 MacBook on Facebook for 20 bucks and it came with the charger which itself is what I was after…of course I bought it

[@yesyesys]

You can install the latest MacOS on the Mid-2010 with OpenCore Legacy Patcher. It's not fast, but it works. Some apps that require a metal capable gpu might not work though.

[@sussygamers4ever]

You make the best videos for real

[@MarcBaggett1]

Great video!

[@gamingzone5285]

I love old laptop opening and restoring them I love computers 😊

[@AshNorton747]

I really like these restoration vids!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MichaelMJD]

Glad to hear it!

[@brianschumacher8956]

There is a chance it is the backlight fuse. But I did have a similar problem and I reset the pram and it fixed it.

[@EverydayGaming-q5t]

Nice deteail with the finger!

[@UserDMG]

I for a second thought you censored the hdd but it was just the funny tab on it

[@levonandonian7613]

I would love to see them restored!

[@GaosArmy-Offical]

Remember These/Those Macbooks are like apple tv 1st gens

[@lightraysone]

Ah, the good old polycarbonate macbook. The Macbook2,1 is a nice machine if only because it is one of the few laptops supporting libreboot AND it doesn't require an external flasher.

[@bentboybbz]

He's lying so poorly....he is super bummed out about the hard drives being wiped....he absolutely wanted to dig through some old hard drives... it's ok my brother... the next hard drive will have something good on it...if not I'm sure your loyal subscribers will find you one that does 👍 We Greatly Appreciate Your Time And Effort Michael! Thank You For Sharing! I Hope You Are Having A Wonderful Day Or Night! And remember... DON'T GIVE THEM WATER!! BAD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU GIVE THEM WATER!!!😅

[@pelgervampireduck]

I was nervous like "dude, don't check the downloads, what if they downloaded 'not safe for work' videos and photos?" hahaha

[@PeterEmery]

While MacBooks can be started without batteries installed, they will run slowly. This is because for heavy usage the Mac draws from the battery which has greater current capacity than the charging power supply. The power supply is designed to charge up the battery over time, not to operate the computer alone.

[@ABwebGamesFan]

I think I have the mid 2010s macbook in this video! I remember I got it from the post office lol

[@deltonviera2051]

Great video thanks 😀😀

[@Geologem]

ik it might be a lot of effort but, i would love to see a full restoration video on the last makebook or even the second macbook, i loved when you restored that nes and i would love a restoration series on your channel, and it might add to the everything goes wrong joke (well you might not want that lol)

[@georgeh6856]

I had a 2009 Macbook. You didn't need to take the keyboard off to get the hard drive out. That white tab attached to the hard drive would let you slide the hard drive out through the space where the battery was. I don't know whether that would work so well on a machine this old, however.

[@radzs9939]

Yes another MJD Video and its Macbook theme.

[@karloniukas]

You finded a rare Michael mjd video🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@RetroGamerOG_]

I had one of the 2007 macbooks it was so reliable until it disappeared one day

[@ViewpointUnique]

I have probably 80-100 of these (mostly A1181s with a few A1342s) just laying around that I'm slowly working through. They weren't fast, but they were good little machines. Wish I could have afforded one back when they were current. Actually have set up a few with fully functional Windows 10 64-bit.

[@mrfoxesite69482]

get ltsc 2019 lasts long and has no bloat. also macos is better on these.

[@ViewpointUnique]

@@mrfoxesite69482 MacOS is horrendously out of date on these. The 2006-2008 A1181s aren't compatible with OCLP so they're limited to 10.6 or 10.7 depending on the year. Only the 2009s can run modern MacOS via OCLP, and they're SLOW on it. Painfully so. Win 10 runs much better on these.

[@mrfoxesite69482]

@@ViewpointUniquethen try ltsc 2019 or ltsb 2016. it will last long and has no bloat.

[@mrfoxesite69482]

@@ViewpointUnique linux is the best tho

[@blockbuster36061]

It's a good day when Michael uploads

[@karloniukas]

I agree with you 💯

[@user-sy3jo8sy3m]

Your videos have been bangers lately! Keep it up Michael mjd

[@rob_van_gelderen]

Because of the Tomcat folder I think it was owned by a Java developer

[@konman2809]

16:40 iChat was the predecessor to Apple's iMessage.