2010 MacBook OS Recommendation

[TheBeverage]

I've found myself in a situation where I will need a laptop to use during my travels this summer, despite my main computer being a desktop. I have a 2010 white MacBook ("MacBook 7,1" according to MacTracker) that is currently running High Sierra sitting around, and would prefer to breathe new life into that rather than spend hundreds of dollars on a new Mac for temporary use. My use case for this is going to be fairly simple, browser, email, Pages/Numbers, and some FaceTime.

My questions are:
1) What would be the best operating system to put on this? I see there are patches all the way up to Monterey, but it also seems the further along you go, the more glitchy the experience becomes, and I don't know how the system requirements scale. I'd like to balance minimizing the amount of day-to-day frustration while also having a reasonably up-to-date and secure OS.
2) With that OS in mind, is the current 4GB of RAM sufficient, or would 8GB be the requirement for a pleasant experience in 2022?
3) The battery also needs to be replaced. I was wondering if the ~$20 Chinese batteries sold on eBay and Amazon are safe? I'll likely be connecting this to a wall when using it, so battery life is not really a concern on the replacment part.

Thanks in advance! I've attached the specs of the machine in question.

 

[Amethyst1]

1) What would be the best operating system to put on this? I see there are patches all the way up to Monterey, but it also seems the further along you go, the more glitchy the experience becomes, and I don't know how the system requirements scale. I'd like to balance minimizing the amount of day-to-day frustration while also having a reasonably up-to-date and secure OS.

It depends on your priorities. If you want a version of macOS which is still supported with security updates etc., for some time to come, you need Catalina or a later version. If you want something that "just works" without any patching, stick to High Sierra which will at least still allow you to run the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox.

2) With that OS in mind, is the current 4GB of RAM sufficient, or would 8GB be the requirement for a pleasant experience in 2022?

Given how resource-hungry e.g. browsers have unfortunately become, I'd say 4 GB is the absolute minimum these days, so you're covered. But... if possible I'd go for 8 GB to be on the safe side. All machines I regularly use have 8 GB and I have zero issues. If you haven't done this already, replacing the hard drive with an SSD is also highly recommended to make the machine "feel" quite a bit faster when booting up and launching applications; furthermore, the more recent you go in terms of macOS, the poorer the non-SSD experience will be. If you have to decide between 8 GB RAM and an SSD, go for an SSD first.

3) The battery also needs to be replaced. I was wondering if the ~$20 Chinese batteries sold on eBay and Amazon are safe? I'll likely be connecting this to a wall when using it, so battery life is not really a concern on the replacment part.

I'd go for a reputable and reliable brand (others will hopefully chime in here as I have no experience with any third-party batteries) to avoid nasty surprises. You need to have a working battery in the machine, otherwise the CPU will forcibly downclock to 1 GHz.

 

[theMarble]

I personally use Catalina through the dosdude1 patcher on my 2010 MB. I also have 4GB of RAM however mine has an SSD in it which makes a HUGE difference to performance. It runs very well for browsing the web, light software development and some other tasks that I do.

4GB is fine for basic tasks however I got the sticks for free, if I was paying for memory I would go for 8GB or 16GB.

I would not buy a Chinese battery as they (in experience) end up bulging in a few months and become a real fire hazard. iFixit sells replacement batteries for good prices and make good tools and repair guides to make the process easier.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I'd go for a reputable and reliable brand (others will hopefully chime in here as I have no experience with any third-party batteries) to avoid nasty surprises. You need to have a working battery in the machine, otherwise the CPU will forcibly downclock to 1 GHz.

I would not buy a Chinese battery as they (in experience) end up bulging in a few months and become a real fire hazard. iFixit sells replacement batteries for good prices and make good tools and repair guides to make the process easier.

Apple's batteries are manufactured in China (along with Taiwan and Korea) by the same companies who then sell the exact same units to the public, sans the Apple logo. For more information on this subject, check out this thread. I've got Simplo batteries running inside three of my MacBooks and none of them have bulged or exploded thus far. Hopefully they'll remain that way.

Obviously I'd pass on anything that's just too much of a bargain to be true.

 

[TheBeverage]

Thank you all for the advice. As the machine currently has 4GB installed I'll stick to that for now, and it's already got an SSD installed so that isn't a problem.

@theMarble, do you find Catalina to be slow at all on the machine? I've seen some people saying that Catalina runs a good bit slower than Mojave on patched machines. Losing 32bit apps isn't really relevant to me, at least.

As for batteries, most seem to be in the order of random brands I've never heard of (attached), and unfortunately I can't find "Simplo" batteries. Guess I'll go with one that at least has a name attached -- though I've bought iFixit batteries that were dead on arrival too, so I guess it's a bit of luck of the draw.

 

[theMarble]

Apple's batteries are manufactured in China (along with Taiwan and Korea) by the same companies who then sell the exact same units to the public, sans the Apple logo. For more information on this subject, check out this thread. I've got Simplo batteries running inside three of my MacBooks and none of them have bulged or exploded thus far. Hopefully they'll remain that way.

Obviously I'd pass on anything that's just too much of a bargain to be true.

Ahh good to know! I guess I got some bad luck.... Glad yours are running well so far!

 

[theMarble]

@theMarble, do you find Catalina to be slow at all on the machine? I've seen some people saying that Catalina runs a good bit slower than Mojave on patched machines. Losing 32bit apps isn't really relevant to me, at least.

It really depends on what you are doing. I used to run Catalina Public Beta through to 10.15.2 on a Retina MacBook Pro for my video editing and design work and I was getting daily kernel panics and shutdowns. Went back to Mojave and it was fine.

Completely different story with 10.15.7 though. I'm not doing any heavy work on it like my rMBP and it seems fine. When browsing the web, memory pressure is very low and in green.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I've seen some people saying that Catalina runs a good bit slower than Mojave on patched machines. Losing 32bit apps isn't really relevant to me, at least.

I'm running patched Catalina on a machine that's considerably less powerful than yours (2GB RAM, 1.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU) and it's flawless. Your MacBook has a much higher spec so I don't think you'll have anything to worry about.

As for batteries, most seem to be in the order of random brands I've never heard of (attached), and unfortunately I can't find "Simplo" batteries. Guess I'll go with one that at least has a name attached -- though I've bought iFixit batteries that were dead on arrival too, so I guess it's a bit of luck of the draw.

Download coconutBattery from here and click on battery info. A window will open that lists the manufacturers name. Here's an example:

Yours will probably be Simplo but it's worth checking and confirming nonetheless as Dynapack/DP also provide batteries for Apple. Search on eBay or Amazon with "1342 OEM battery" and check whether the manufacturer is listed, it certainly was with the batteries that I purchased. If it's not, contact the vendor ask them to confirm who the manufacturer is: if they're unable to tell you, that's an instant red flag because they should know these basic details - move on and contact another vendor.

Don't bother with the companies who claim to offer batteries with larger capacities because I've read numerous accounts of disgruntled consumers who've expressed bitterness that they paid a premium for these products only to discover that they failed to live up to the marketing claims.

Ahh good to know! I guess I got some bad luck.... Glad yours are running well so far!

Fingers crossed that this continues. I've had bad luck too: one misfortune with a MacBook Pro that was purchased brand new from Apple - its battery failed after the warranty had elapsed in what I feel was a ridiculously short space of time. I didn't have Apple Care because imho I shouldn't have to invest in protection of that kind for a product which was already expensive and should have met a basic standard of quality. End of rant…

I also bought a pre-owned MacBook Air and luckily discovered in time that its battery had swollen to extremes and would have soon exploded. Dodged a bomb there!

 

[TheBeverage]

Completely different story with 10.15.7 though. I'm not doing any heavy work on it like my rMBP and it seems fine. When browsing the web, memory pressure is very low and in green.

I'm running patched Catalina on a machine that's considerably less powerful than yours (2GB RAM, 1.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo CPU) and it's flawless. Your MacBook has a much higher spec so I don't think you'll have anything to worry about.

Thank you, seems Catalina is the way to go! I'll also grab one of the batteries as described. Appreciate the help.