The $15 MacBook | SSD Upgrade, Max RAM, restore and testing of a 2007 MacBook

[@farazsworkshop]

Love old restorations man. Especially the boost in performance they get from a simple SSD and Ram upgrade. It's great seeing old hardware given a new lease on life. Did a similar thing with an old Acer laptop and it was so fun to use.

[@TechKingdom35]

Same. I also love how usable anything that has like a Core 2 Duo gets with an SSD an 4 to 8 GB of RAM. I plan to do more of these videos one I finished my Apple tv series.

[@elsintripas]

i miss the macbooks nostalgia i used to have one of those

[@TechKingdom35]

They are indeed very cool. They look sleek, are durable and easy to repair and upgrade

[@Rod-bp8ow]

There is quality that is established and known. It continues to be as certain, for it is definite in its principles from its inception, realization and continuity of excellence.

[@TechKingdom35]

True these macbooks where build very well and it shows

[@racingtherolla]

Found one of these in pieces in my closet. Works great now! Didn’t bother putting the dvd drive back in but idc! It’s cool!

[@TechKingdom35]

Cool, glad you got it running again. You can replace the DVD drive with another sata bay

[@Madaraofton]

I bought this laptop this year and it's using a windows 10 operating system. Works fine though limited functions.

[@TechKingdom35]

Yeah it works fine with Windows 10, especially if the ram is upgraded and an SSD installed. I used Windows 10 on it a few months back and it worked fine. But of course not as fast as a more modern PC.

[@snottygames]

@@TechKingdom35 try installing linux

[@TechKingdom35]

@@snottygames I did, works very well but you need a modified ISO with support for the 32 Bit EFi

[@michaelsheehan2086]

Mine is a chrome book

[@cathrynm]

I have similar, but mine is macbook 4,1. I dual boot Leopard and Lion. My battery was completely dead, but they still had replacements on amazon.

[@TechKingdom35]

Very cool. What do you use it for? At some point I also need to get a new battery for mine.

[@cathrynm]

@@TechKingdom35 The 4,1 can run the Chromium-legacy, so it's useable for the web. Mostly I've been running old games on it, but since I can use it for browsing, I think I'll stick it in our 'train room' and just use it there for music streaming or youtube while I"m fussing with the trains.

[@TechKingdom35]

@@cathrynm Very cool. A train room sounds like the dream :) What gauge are you running?

[@RetroGamerBB]

I'd love these unibodies if I could put an ips screen in one

[@TechKingdom35]

True, the TN panels are subpar

[@ilbulga]

Ecuse me ..what Is AN IPS SCREEN.. I've never Hear this Word. Thanks

[@lopesmorrenofim]

Came for the mac, stayed for Spore

[@TechKingdom35]

Such a cool concept. But the game sadly couldn't life up to the hype.

[@littlebottleofink]

Thank you for this! I wanted to make sure it was easy to put in the SSD before I did it. Figured it was. I have a macbook pro that is a few months old but found myself wanting one of these so I could still use my older ipods. So thank you

[@TechKingdom35]

Thanks, always glad to hear my video helped someone. Cool use case for an old MacBook :)

[@davejnathan10]

You should check the leopard reborn, a great high sierra theme for osx leopard, if i'm not mistaken it will work for the intel-leopard too

[@TechKingdom35]

As far as I know it is sepcifically developped for PPC. But one might be able to extract the theme from there. But the other opimizations I'm not too sure.

[@davejnathan10]

@@TechKingdom35 I just re-checked the forums, yes you are right, the ppc use different image version than the intel (example.png vs [e-mail]), better not install it

[@ilbulga]

Leopard rebirth 😁

[@KittyCatComa]

I wish they could be gutted and revamped to run new hardware and windows. The design of these were perfect.

[@TechKingdom35]

True, although I think I like the 2009 unibody polycarbonate MacBook better.

[@overgrey]

@@TechKingdom35 yes 2009 unibody but with battery like 2007 so easy to replace lol.

[@tj_offical1007]

@@overgrey I still used one of these 2007 models in college in 2018 I use to have 2 extra batteries I’m my bag to hot swap when the MacBook died to be honest for a 10 year old MacBook I still got 2 hours per battery so I agree

[@FireFoxDestroyer]

It would be cool if it were actually Apple intelligence like in the thumbnail (glow under the MacBook looks like apple intelligence colors)

[@onyesoemmanuel80]

Very educative!! I love this video.

[@TechKingdom35]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@JimmyCook-k4s]

Good video 📸

[@TechKingdom35]

@@JimmyCook-k4s Thanks

[@wonderfulbebe]

Thanks for sharing, one question if dont have the cd how could i restore

[@TechKingdom35]

You can create a USB installer for macOS. There are plenty tutorials online. Just google the version of macOS you want to install followed by something like "usb installer".

[@AndrewGallardo52799]

Is there a way I can back up OSX tiger that’s already installed onto a 1,1 MacBook. I have my aunts old MacBook, and I want to preserve all the info and back up onto an SSD.

[@TechKingdom35]

You could either use an external storage medium with time machine or use disk utility and create an image of the whole harddrive

[@elglowingjar]

Where to get the ram upgrades?

[@t-rex-iran]

hi i bought one of this machines for my collection and i cant install macos. i trieed different ISO and DMG files but none of them works. Can you please send me link for this version? thanks

[@TechKingdom35]

Sorry but that was a long time ago. I think I got it from archive.org. But I don't know the direct link

[@t-rex-iran]

no problemm thank you so much@@TechKingdom35

[@softwareyhardwarefusion]

The macbook a1181 with 3 gb ram and ssd may support win 10 and ubuntu mate 20.04 or zorinos 15.3 and work fine.

[@TechKingdom35]

Yes it supports Windows 10, I did a video on that a while back. The Linux distros should work fine as well. Or probably better than Windows 10. I had Lubuntu on this MacBook before doing the updates to test the hardware and it ran fine.

[@odyshape]

Why not installing Mint or a lighter OS?

[@softwareyhardwarefusion]

@@odyshape other maybe debian lxde, peppermint 10, elementaryOs only test that all devices works fine

[@Ril3yT_UK]

Can you supply a link for OS X I’m getting an upgraded one of these

[@TechKingdom35]

@Ril3yT_UK Sadly I don't remember where exactly I got that file, but you could check on archive.org or the macintosh.garden

[@pierpig7058]

Cool video, thanks for sharing. I have a MacBook 13 3.1 2gb ram, do you think is possible to upgrade the memory to 6gb or maybe 4? I actually have 2 and Ubuntu Mate is working a bit slowly. How much memory Ubuntu Mate 18 support?

[@Ryan_Revier]

It could only runs on 4GB max..2GB on both are quite good for running the ram..

[@ThePeter567]

I have the black version!

[@TechKingdom35]

Cool, they look very sleek. Sad that Apple never produced another black Mac Book.

[@shxx6287]

Hi I m struggling to install back mac os on the same laptop can you put a link to the iso or dmg image and how to install it I will really be very thankful (pls tag me if you put something else I will forget hhh )

[@TechKingdom35]

Sorry I can't give you a link, but as always you can just look for themac os version you want to install on archive.org burn that to a DVD or USB stick and install.

[@valt9093]

I got a 2010 plastic macbook but it has no battery in it where should i get a battery for it?

[@TechKingdom35]

Sadly original batteries are not produced anymore. There are reproductions on eBay, but since the battery is part off the case they look a bit weird.

[@valt9093]

@@TechKingdom35 aw man

[@shalmai5311]

Can you send the link for the dmg file for MacOS x

[@TechKingdom35]

Sadly no, but you can just look for "mac osx snow leopard" on archive org

[@cvildosola1]

Puedes instalar Windows 10 de 64 bits y funcinaria de lujo! yo tengo uno el modelo de color negro con ssd y anda muy bien no he podido conseguir la bateria pero conectado funciona muy bien saludos!

[@TechKingdom35]

I did install Windows 10 on this. I actually even made a video about it :)

[@eddiedowning2571]

@@TechKingdom35 send link for video

[@robsquared2]

It's so strange to remember how having odd mismatched ram and it being totally ok.

[@TechKingdom35]

I mean you can still do that :D

[@sallesfx]

I bought a mini dvi adapter and it's very small.

[@TechKingdom35]

Maybe you got sent a mini displayport adapter. They are for the newer MacBooks and not conpatible with this one

[@sallesfx]

@@TechKingdom35 got it. Thanks!

[@paulharrison8379]

I think that the macOS steam client would work in a his Mac and that a quarter of your pc steam games would work on this Mac

[@TechKingdom35]

Steam might install and run but the intel GMA 950 iGPU would be a massive bottleneck

[@paulharrison8379]

@@TechKingdom35 I have a lot of pre 2010 games in my steam collection that would work well.

[@TechKingdom35]

@@paulharrison8379 Ah okay, that might work. But even then most 3D games of that era would not work well.

[@paulharrison8379]

@@TechKingdom35from my experience of running steam on my atom based windows 10 laptop with intel system graphics a game like oblivion or bioshock would work well

[@glovestech]

the maximum ram for these macbooks is 4GB from apple and 6GB actual.

[@TechKingdom35]

Sorry but this is a 2006 macbook 2,1. It came with 1GB and apple said it can officially support 2GB. Unofficially it can be loaded with 4GB but only about 3.5 GB can be used because the memory region that stores the Memory Mapped IO in the intel 945PM chipset. There is an article on everymac about this called "Why are the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" models limited to 3 GB of memory?"

[@Adhil77766]

Can we play GTA san Andreas on it?? Smoothly ?? I mean just like normally

[@TechKingdom35]

Probably not. The Intel GMA950 GPU in those old MacBooks is very weak. I tried Vice City on it years ago and it was early able to run it, and that was under Windows XP not 10.

[@venomwant3drulex291]

Hello sir I'm from India. I have also this macbook model and also I want to upgrade RAM & ROM of this macbook. Will you suggest me that how I will able to upgrade it. My questions are:- 1.) How much gigabytes of RAM can we upgrade in this? 2.) How many gigabytes of ROM can we upgrade in this? 3.) Does it support SSD? Please reply me sir. Love from India ❤️ I'm your big fan sir please reply mei. 🙂

[@TechKingdom35]

Hi, you can put in two 2GB DDR2 SoDimm RAM sticks. The term ROM is not really applicable to notebooks. The main storage of phones is sometimes called ROM. But that would be the SSD in this case. And yes this MacBook has a SATA interface and can use any 2.5 inch SATA SSD. Have fun with the notebook :)

[@humayramim9160]

​@@TechKingdom35 Hlw plz can u tell me this polycarbonate macbook can work for html,css,javascript.. I want to learn this can i do this with this old macbooks

[@ergunkucukaslan3071]

Merhaba bu urunde spdif output varmi?

[@kofisefa7247]

Is the ram ddr3 or ddr2

[@TechKingdom35]

667 MHz DDR2.

[@jader2433]

help. I have a similar Macbook and I can't install the operating system.

[@TechKingdom35]

What operating System? Mac os ? Just put the dvd in or use a usb installer. There are men tutorials to reinstall macOS.

[@kesha777]

Did you say RIP magsafe😜

[@TechKingdom35]

Yes back then apple only had notebooks with USB C. Magsafe 3 wasn't out yet :)

[@Andersstuff]

I have a MacBook like this and id like to know if anyone knows any good uses for it.

[@TechKingdom35]

You could install Windows or Linux on it to have a PC for light tasks like Webbrowsing or Office. You could play some retro games on the thing. Use it as music streaming device. Or just as backup in case your new laptop breaks.

[@foodies_hub183]

Is it fine to buy Mac book 2009 ?

[@TechKingdom35]

Depends on what you sant to do with it. With an ssd and 8gb of ram they are still usable but the core 2 duo cpus start to show their age

[@dragonvstiger581]

hello bro could you help me about my laptop 2007 like this laptop when i start my laptop apple logo in not showing how could i fix it

[@TechKingdom35]

What is it showing? A folder icon with a questionmark?

[@dragonvstiger581]

@@TechKingdom35 No brother just white screen then starting windows its not showing apple logo

[@dragonvstiger581]

@@TechKingdom35 can we chat on whatsapp

[@TechKingdom35]

@@dragonvstiger581 hmm, do you hear the bootchime?

[@dragonvstiger581]

@@TechKingdom35 no brother you tell me about bootChime

[@Ryan_Revier]

The maximum ram for these 2007 devices are 4GB instead of 3GB.

[@TechKingdom35]

As far as I know you can put 4GB into them and they will even show up in the system info but macOS can only use 3GB. At least according to EveryMac.

[@Ryan_Revier]

@@TechKingdom35 you can use 2GB in one slot and it will counted as an 4GB for double slots and rams..totally could runs the device greatly..also runs on El-Capitan Patcher for this devices.

[@celiacastro4566]

I have one of these too? The mid 2007 13inch what can I update or maybe u how a video of which I can do it from? If u can would be good my computer is kinda slow wanna do some other stuff I can’t go on websites cuz it keeps saying ur time is outdated which idk what is it

[@Ryan_Revier]

@@celiacastro4566 it could only runs on macOS 10.11.6(El-Capitan Patcher).

[@nitishkharat]

@@Ryan_Revier if we use windows os will it use full capacity of 4gb ra, or ony 3gb

[@egorfedorovichletov]

Install linux on this

[@TechKingdom35]

Thanks for the comment. I already planed to do a video where I will try modern OSs (including Linux) on this MacBook. But I need the old macOS for an upcomming video.

[@TechKingdom35]

@Imix Muan ​ Thanks for the tips. I will look into it. For now I tried a Debian based distro called AntiX which is also super fast.

[@user-op1tq9ur3t]

links for parts?

[@TechKingdom35]

You can use andy 2.5 inch sata ssd and 667mhz ddr2 sodimm ram under 2gb (per memory stick)

[@afifsyamim1735]

Where can i buy the item?

[@TechKingdom35]

What item?

[@lukasaviles7681]

Try to use Hackintosh to run macOS Big Sur or Catalina on this old MacBook.

[@TechKingdom35]

The GMA 950 GPU in this MacBook is super low spec. And there is no support for it in anything newer than macOS 10.7 I think. So sadly there is no way to get newer versions of macOS working on it in a usable way.

[@clotildemachado3332]

@@TechKingdom35 você pode tentar instalar o yosemite ou el capitan na intel gma 950 64mb (y)

[@pnnytx]

@@TechKingdom35 the latest os than can run is 10.9 and it's unofficial and really buggy. 10.10 is even worse

[@TechKingdom35]

@@pnnytx Yeah I think I had Yosemite on it at one Point and it was abysmal.

[@celiacastro4566]

@@TechKingdom35 what does that mean and it was really that bad???? 😳

[@Medo2Rida]

اللهم صل وسلم على سيدنا محمد ياربي أنصر إخواننا بفلسطين

[@stalk3r715]

Can you install windows 7 because old mac os is completely unusable

[@clotildemachado3332]

Porém é difícil os kext video/áudio procurem sobre (y)

[@clotildemachado3332]

Essa máquina suporte yosemite ou el capitan (y)

[@ilbulga]

Mountain Lion... Post factors...

[@TechKingdom35]

Yup, I could do that. But I needed a Mac to be on this old version of macOS.

[@falkorock]

German?

[@ergunkucukaslan3071]

Merhaba bu urunde spdif output varmi?

[@TechKingdom35]

Yes, it features a 3.5mm combo jack. So a 3.5mm toslink cable is needed, but it should work.