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Macbook 4,1- All I want is spotify and iMessage

J

jsolo112

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 15, 2021
9
0
Hello!
If any one can help me with my issue, it would be much appreciated.
So I have an old white MacBook, a 4,1. I haven't used it in a while, but wanted to dig it back out and restore it so I could have a travel laptop, that could also be a spotify machine hooked up to speakers. I've read many threads, watched videos, and found many patchers , but some don't support iMessage. Is there any clear and definite guide that would help?
- John
 
im_to_hyper

im_to_hyper

macrumors 65816
Aug 25, 2004
1,383
399
Pasadena, California, USA
I guess the only thing you could do is install an unofficial build of El Capitan; go to https://docs.certifytheweb.com/docs/kb/kb-202109-letsencrypt/ to install the latest root certificates, and use iMessage and Spotify. That being said -- the 4,1 will not have graphics acceleration.

The 5,1 did with the nvidia graphics chipset but sadly it seems the 4,1 with its Intel graphics never had anything leaked that worked, or no one was able to do anything with the drivers. The 5,1 also can work with Big Sur even... so maybe give it a shot even though it may be slow as dirt.

Look up the Unsupported Macs Discord group for more info IMHO, they've helped me a lot. I don't want to promote another group -- but quite a few MR members are there as well. :)
 
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J

jsolo112

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 15, 2021
9
0
ok, but the MacBook will run El Capitan? Slowly, sure, but it will run?
 
swamprock

swamprock

macrumors 65816
Aug 2, 2015
1,261
1,837
Michigan
jsolo112 said:
ok, but the MacBook will run El Capitan? Slowly, sure, but it will run?
Click to expand...

It actually doesn't run too badly. It's a tad glitchy, and there is no video acceleration (no transparency as well), but will play 720p videos decently. There will also be no sleep or brightness adjustment for the screen, but there's a workaround for the last item. It won't be speedy like Mountain Lion (also unsupported), but doesn't drag *too* bad in most areas. Launchpad and grid stacks lag noticably.

An SSD and maxed memory will help if anyone goes this route.
 
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J

jsolo112

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 15, 2021
9
0
ok thanks. Can I have a link to the best patcher please? There's just so many to choose from idl which one is the best.
 
im_to_hyper

im_to_hyper

macrumors 65816
Aug 25, 2004
1,383
399
Pasadena, California, USA
jsolo112 said:
ok, but the MacBook will run El Capitan? Slowly, sure, but it will run?
Click to expand...

So here is how I would run this, to be honest:

1) Partition for Mac OS Lion 10.7 (officially supported)
2) Partition for Mac OS Mountain Lion 10.8 with Chromium Legacy, Firefox Legacy, Office 2011, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and any other necessary software for sure.
3) Additional Partition for 10.12 Sierra through 10.15 Catalina (your choice - Catalina runs newer software; but slowly)

Download Sierra Through Catalina Using macOS Downloader
Use macOS Patcher to make a USB Stick for 10.12 through 10.15

If you use Catalina; you'll have iMessage, be able to run the latest Office products, etc -- though with no GPU acceleration things will be CPU rendered and laggy - though at least it was an officially supported MacBook until the project ended.
 
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J

jsolo112

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 15, 2021
9
0
im_to_hyper said:
You can buy it through Apple for like $20 (preferred method) then use ParrotGeek’s Patcher
Click to expand...
Ok, I see that the Parrot Geek patcher does not support iMessage. what about MLPostFactor, do you have the link to that?
 
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