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Mid 2010 MacBook - One of the best designed Intel MacBook's

theMarble

theMarble

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 27, 2020
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1,533
Earth, Sol System, Alpha Quadrant
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So recently I picked up a Mid 2010 MacBook! The company I got it from said it was a Late 2009 so free upgrade ;)

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It has the standard config of the P8600, 2GB DDR3 (2x1GB), 320M 256MB, 250GB 5400rpm and Snow Leopard. However I upgraded it to El Capitan (will do Catalina once my 8GB 1066MHz sticks arrive soon) and added a 128GB SanDisk SSD. Even with 2GB of RAM, it sure does run fast, maybe not as fast as my 2006 MBP but still very speedy while doing day-to-day tasks. The casing is slightly chipped in 1 or 2 places and a hairline crack on the front-right corner but you can hardly see it when you aren't looking directly at it.

I think one of the reasons why these white MacBook's were so popular was because of their eye-catching design, compared to a standard 2009 Windows laptop they looked unique in their glossy white final, which shockingly in my experience does not get fingerprints on it!

Next I need to get an older White MacBook and iBook G3 Snow to complete the collection!
 
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It's good to hear someone else broadcasting the great attributes of this particular white 2.4GHz MacBook7,1 model. Imho it's one of the less well-known, underestimated models of MacBooks, not to be confused with the earlier late 2009 model which had a less powerful 2.26GHz cpu and gpu. And it's far superior to the previous non-unibody white MacBooks which are more trickier to disassemble and generaly work on.
Like the 'grail' model mid-2012 MacBook Pro, these 2.4GHz MacBooks imho are very collectable and well worth looking for, especially in excellent condition without signs of cracking around the top cover rear hinges. Potential buyers should look for evidence of cracking close to the touchpad, which is typically symptomatic of a bulging, defective battery which needs replacing.
HERE's a link to one I modified with an SSD and upgraded RAM memory which is still performing like a champion.

And below is another in my collection - a near mint example, which I completely refurbished inside with repasted cpu, added SSD and extra memory. Note: the soft rubber bottom of the baseplate cover was not like that 'as-found', but with a little tender-loving care and meticulous cleaning was restored to as-new condition.

Top view of 2.4GHz MacBook7,1
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View on bottom cover.

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Ready for use. Still a joy to behold and to use in 2021!

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It's a crying shame - one might say almost criminal that Apple no longer produce manageable and totaly user-upgradeable laptops. This one will surely still be in use in 2030. I wonder how true that will be for the current M1 Macs without expensive surgery during that timeframe......
 
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CooperBox said:
It's good to hear someone else broadcasting the great attributes of this particular white 2.4GHz MacBook7,1 model. Imho it's one of the less well-known, underestimated models of MacBooks, not to be confused with the earlier late 2009 model which had a less powerful 2.26GHz cpu and gpu. And it's far superior to the previous non-unibody white MacBooks which are more trickier to disassemble and generaly work on.
Like the 'grail' model mid-2012 MacBook Pro, these 2.4GHz MacBooks imho are very collectable and well worth looking for, especially in excellent condition without signs of cracking around the top cover rear hinges.
HERE's a link to one I modified with an SSD and upgraded RAM memory which is still performing like a champion.

And below is another in my collection - a near mint example, which I completely refurbished inside with repasted cpu, added SSD and extra memory. Note: the soft rubber bottom of the baseplate cover was not like that 'as-found', but with a little tender-loving care and meticulous cleaning was restored to as-new condition.

Top view of 2.4GHz MacBook7,1
View attachment 1923427
View on bottom cover.

View attachment 1923428

Ready for use. Still a joy to behold and to use in 2021!

View attachment 1923429

It's a crying shame - one might say almost criminal that Apple no longer produce manageable and totaly user-upgradeable laptops. This one will surely still be in use in 2030. I wonder how true that will be for the current M1 Macs without expensive surgery during that timeframe......
Click to expand...
That looks incredible. Serious jealousy here over that beauty.
 
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CooperBox said:
I have another similar refurbished unit which I may consider puting on the Marketplace/Collectors section of the forum. I'm in Europe though which would deter many from the U.S and elsewhere overseas.
Click to expand...
Sent you a PM
 
theMarble said:
Thanks, are there any noticeable speed differences to having a RAID0 array in a system of this era?
Click to expand...
The R/W's are almost doubled. You'll loose the DVD drive in the process. I think it's worth it. OS X supports installing to a R0 all the way to 10.12, for 10.13 you'll have to clone it and OTA wont anymore but 10.13 is done with updates now so that doesn't matter anymore.
 
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CooperBox said:
It's good to hear someone else broadcasting the great attributes of this particular white 2.4GHz MacBook7,1 model. Imho it's one of the less well-known, underestimated models of MacBooks, not to be confused with the earlier late 2009 model which had a less powerful 2.26GHz cpu and gpu. And it's far superior to the previous non-unibody white MacBooks which are more trickier to disassemble and generaly work on.
Like the 'grail' model mid-2012 MacBook Pro, these 2.4GHz MacBooks imho are very collectable and well worth looking for, especially in excellent condition without signs of cracking around the top cover rear hinges. Potential buyers should look for evidence of cracking close to the touchpad, which is typically symptomatic of a bulging, defective battery which needs replacing.
HERE's a link to one I modified with an SSD and upgraded RAM memory which is still performing like a champion.

And below is another in my collection - a near mint example, which I completely refurbished inside with repasted cpu, added SSD and extra memory. Note: the soft rubber bottom of the baseplate cover was not like that 'as-found', but with a little tender-loving care and meticulous cleaning was restored to as-new condition.

Top view of 2.4GHz MacBook7,1
View attachment 1923427
View on bottom cover.

View attachment 1923428

Ready for use. Still a joy to behold and to use in 2021!

View attachment 1923429

It's a crying shame - one might say almost criminal that Apple no longer produce manageable and totaly user-upgradeable laptops. This one will surely still be in use in 2030. I wonder how true that will be for the current M1 Macs without expensive surgery during that timeframe......
Click to expand...
That is a beautiful machine. What did you clean the bottom with? Mine is gross.
 
Jack Neill said:
That is a beautiful machine. What did you clean the bottom with? Mine is gross.
Click to expand...
With the bottom cover removed, I first gave the rubber a good scrubbing with luke-warm water and washing up liquid which removed most of the crud build-up. That was followed with tooth paste and toothbrush for the more stubborn stains.
Another effective method is the use of a slightly damped Magic Eraser which is a sponge-like household cleaner, which also removed the majority of dirt & grime from the rubbery base of an iBook G3 'Clamshell'.
 
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Here is my 2010. I picked it up at the pawn shop for 75$ about a year or so ago because they didn't know the password. I actually guessed it based on the hint. Didn't matter anyways. I swapped for 2 512's and went R0 and 16Gb.
Great little Mac. Love the WhiteBooks.
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Congrats on the beautiful MacBook! I have a couple of A1342s in my collection; I've wanted to branch out into collecting those too, but almost all of the ones I've seen in my area have either peeling or removed rubber bottoms, or have the "toothed" chipping on the topcase due to expanding batteries.

My only other beef with the A1342 is that in order to replace the thermal paste, I'd have to take out the whole motherboard, which I really don't like doing.

Other than that, you have an absolute beast of a computer!
 
I worked on a few of these in my AASP days, and in about 2017 bought one for a friend needing a good laptop. That unibody polycarbonate case was just lightyears better than the 06-mid09 flavor. I'll probably have to grab one at some point for the collection. I certainly don't need anymore laptops, but..... ya know.
 
Oh man, the 2010 poly MacBook. I adore these computers! I used one for several years as my main laptop in my classroom, and man that was a fantastic little machine. I still have it at home, though I mostly use it for writing these days to use that fantastic keyboard. They're easy to work on, easy to care for, and overall very sturdy machines. I adore the one that I have, and plan on still using it for years to come! Fun fact, with an SSD and 16GB of RAM it's a champ under Big Sur.

Congrats on the find - use this fantastic little computer well!

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I have one that I picked up and cleaned out, reapplied the thermal paste, upgraded to SSD and 16gb RAM. My question to you guys is what's the best macOS for it? I currently have Monterey 12.1 on it and it seems adequate enough even with the graphics glitch. I did try Catalina briefly as well as High Sierra but I like having the latest OS on my Macs. Didn't really get to do any benchmarking but seems fine enough...

Also tried replacing the keys with the MacBook Pro ones but went back to the original white ones (also got to do some cleaning on them). The all white makes it so clean... now my wife is eyeing it (says it's so cute).
 
these are nice notebook, and ex girlfriend of mine toted one around with a OWC adaptor that was gawky!
i fixed that many times but never added RAM or an SSD.
 wanted these to compliment their iMac line with their laptop, then the air came out.
Maverick did not perform well on hers, while obmiouly Snow leopard and Mountain Lion did very good.
oh dow remember Mavericks ruining her album art and classical music files in iTunes big time!
somehow The academy of St Marin in the Fields took over every Mozart Album in the artist, album and genre in her library and she was mad! i think i physically remained 30 albums she had.
well they seem like nice laptops and if you got this far, thanks for reading.....
 
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theMarble said:
I installed Catalina on mine using the dosdude1 patcher. It runs very fast for 4GB of RAM and a SSD. Though Monterey does sound nice if I had more RAM in it.
Click to expand...
How does it run? I remember trying 10.15.2 on mine and it was terrible, but so was 10.15.2. I always thought Mojave ran ok on mine. I'm on 13.6 now I might give Mojave a shot again.
 
Jack Neill said:
How does it run? I remember trying 10.15.2 on mine and it was terrible, but so was 10.15.2. I always thought Mojave ran ok on mine. I'm on 13.6 now I might give Mojave a shot again.
Click to expand...
It runs just as fast as El Capitan did on 2GB (On Catalina I have 4GB). It just slightly worse when I have lots of programs open however with 8-16GB that wouldn't be a problem.

I used 10.15 PB through 15.3 on my rMBP and it was terrible; I'm not joking when I say hourly kernel panics and unexpected shutdowns. 15.7 is very stable just like Mojave is and would recommend it.
 
Hey! Always nice to see these machines getting some love. I picked one of these up last year, and it is currently my daily driver. The body shells on these are known to be fragile as they age compared to the aluminum bodied MacBooks that were sold at the same time, so mine appears to have led a gentle life, and had it’s battery replaced at one point.

I slapped 8Gb of RAM into it and a 250Gb SSD and you wouldn't mistake it for an M1, but it is remarkably fast for something it’s age. I run half a dozen different messaging/social apps on it in conjunction with Pages and Safari and Apple Music and it rarely beachballs at all. Im also running patched Catalina on it, and that’s been working well too.

They’re great machines that have outlived their predicted expiry dates by years now and still continue to provide a basic Mac experience. Ill end up replacing mine eventually but I will be keeping it for some other tasks.
 

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