My MacBook Pro is being repaired (because the battery needs replacing and it's glued in, making it very difficult to replace) and I had to dig an old Mac Mini out of the closet to continue working. The machine is from 2007 I believe, Core 2 Duo with 2GB or RAM, running Snow Leopard. It's been upgraded with an SSD.
First of all, the thing boots up almost instantly, goes to sleep instantly and wakes up with no delay. I remember when I upgraded it, although it's a pain to take it apart, you can easily swap out the HDD, the RAM, and even the CPU, and every other component. No glue, no security screws, etc. It's so simple inside, a normal person can tell what is what and repairs are cheap because you don't have to remove everything to access things. Remember when Apple let you upgrade your RAM? And your hard drive? And your CPU? And when things were attached with screws and fasteners, rather than glue? Wow. It's hard to believe that such a time existed, but it's true.
And despite all this, the machine has a smaller footprint than the current Mac Mini.
Safari and Chrome load instantly, Spotlight is instant, and everything works as you'd expect.
Oh and Snow Leopard has Spaces, you can arrange them any way you like, in a square shape or whatever makes sense, rather than having them all lined up in a single row like in Mission Control. You can even set up a shortcut to see all your spaces at once, with all your windows to quickly find what you're looking for. You can't do that in Mission Control, you have to swipe through each desktop one by one to find what you're looking for.
The only problem is that websites no longer support Snow Leopard and keep reminding you about it (not that there's anything you can do), and it's hard to find software that runs on it. But this is due to companies removing support for it, rather than the machine itself.
It was just interesting to look back into the past and to see that I'm not going crazy: Apple did used to build good stuff, with durability and serviceability in mind. It wasn't always how it is today, that even the smallest repairs can't be done at home and cost so much that it's easier to just buy a new one.
First of all, the thing boots up almost instantly, goes to sleep instantly and wakes up with no delay. I remember when I upgraded it, although it's a pain to take it apart, you can easily swap out the HDD, the RAM, and even the CPU, and every other component. No glue, no security screws, etc. It's so simple inside, a normal person can tell what is what and repairs are cheap because you don't have to remove everything to access things. Remember when Apple let you upgrade your RAM? And your hard drive? And your CPU? And when things were attached with screws and fasteners, rather than glue? Wow. It's hard to believe that such a time existed, but it's true.
And despite all this, the machine has a smaller footprint than the current Mac Mini.
Safari and Chrome load instantly, Spotlight is instant, and everything works as you'd expect.
Oh and Snow Leopard has Spaces, you can arrange them any way you like, in a square shape or whatever makes sense, rather than having them all lined up in a single row like in Mission Control. You can even set up a shortcut to see all your spaces at once, with all your windows to quickly find what you're looking for. You can't do that in Mission Control, you have to swipe through each desktop one by one to find what you're looking for.
The only problem is that websites no longer support Snow Leopard and keep reminding you about it (not that there's anything you can do), and it's hard to find software that runs on it. But this is due to companies removing support for it, rather than the machine itself.
It was just interesting to look back into the past and to see that I'm not going crazy: Apple did used to build good stuff, with durability and serviceability in mind. It wasn't always how it is today, that even the smallest repairs can't be done at home and cost so much that it's easier to just buy a new one.
