Dang I love this new technology… SSDs, 1.5TB RAM, and Remote Battery Boosts!
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Show off your Early Intel Macs!
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Dang I love this new technology… SSDs, 1.5TB RAM, and Remote Battery Boosts!
Nope, it's like one of these Festina watches that charges as you carry it with you.
Look, I don’t want my early ’08 17-inch MBP setting itself and the whole home on fire, especially considering how many hoops I had to jump to get a working, green-dot logic board…
Patent this. You‘ll get filthy rich and save the planet in the process!
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Pre-teen Mini3,1 runs as quick as it did on Mojave or Catalina with the latest Big Sur via OCLP v.0.2.4 - In your eye, Apple. 👁
I've ended up redoing my setup on my desk at school due to some new-to-me Macs that I've gotten over the last few months!
The biggest change is the main iMac. My wife's aunt gives me her old iMacs whenever she upgrades, and she just did so this summer! My main machine is now a 2013 27" iMac (3.2GHz Quad i5, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD) running OCLP Big Sur. I was floored when she gave this machine to me, and it replaces the 2010 27" iMac. It's a tad faster (the 2010 was an i7, so they're about even) but it supports dual external monitors, runs Big Sur much smoother, and should run Monterey just as smooth in the future. Plus it has USB3, a native Metal GPU, a much less reflective screen, and man it runs cooler!
Dual external displays means that the 2009 iMac on its left has been retired and replaced by a second 20" ACD! It's much more pleasant to have the display attached to my main machine instead of a separate computer. I primarily use it to monitor what's on the big screen behind me for the kiddos, but I don't feel as bad running a separate display as I did running an entirely separate computer. The 2009 is now at home on my tech bench.
My district computer on the very left has gotten a new 23” 1080p monitor, but that's about it. I have several 16:10 versions of that screen (24" 1920x1200 HPs) and I've been debating replacing the ACDs with them, but I really like the look of the iMac flanked by matching ACDs
The 2010 27" is now living in my office, still serving me well. I've upgraded it to OCLP Big Sur, and it runs that like a champ! Some of its RAM is now in the 2013, so it's down to a mere 24GB of RAM I've repurposed the machine I used to have in my office (a 2010 21") as a student computer.
I also bought myself an M1 Air this summer! I had some cash that finally came in from a job I did several years ago, and I told myself then that I'd use it to get myself a new school computer, so I found a good deal at Costco and went for it! This machine's been amazing so far.
The 2011 11" Air, the 2009 and 2011 minis, the 2008 24", and the 2006 20" are all still in regular use in their jobs, so I'm not entirely old-Macless!
The biggest change is the main iMac. My wife's aunt gives me her old iMacs whenever she upgrades, and she just did so this summer! My main machine is now a 2013 27" iMac (3.2GHz Quad i5, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD) running OCLP Big Sur. I was floored when she gave this machine to me, and it replaces the 2010 27" iMac. It's a tad faster (the 2010 was an i7, so they're about even) but it supports dual external monitors, runs Big Sur much smoother, and should run Monterey just as smooth in the future. Plus it has USB3, a native Metal GPU, a much less reflective screen, and man it runs cooler!
Dual external displays means that the 2009 iMac on its left has been retired and replaced by a second 20" ACD! It's much more pleasant to have the display attached to my main machine instead of a separate computer. I primarily use it to monitor what's on the big screen behind me for the kiddos, but I don't feel as bad running a separate display as I did running an entirely separate computer. The 2009 is now at home on my tech bench.
My district computer on the very left has gotten a new 23” 1080p monitor, but that's about it. I have several 16:10 versions of that screen (24" 1920x1200 HPs) and I've been debating replacing the ACDs with them, but I really like the look of the iMac flanked by matching ACDs
The 2010 27" is now living in my office, still serving me well. I've upgraded it to OCLP Big Sur, and it runs that like a champ! Some of its RAM is now in the 2013, so it's down to a mere 24GB of RAM
I've repurposed the machine I used to have in my office (a 2010 21") as a student computer.I also bought myself an M1 Air this summer! I had some cash that finally came in from a job I did several years ago, and I told myself then that I'd use it to get myself a new school computer, so I found a good deal at Costco and went for it! This machine's been amazing so far.
The 2011 11" Air, the 2009 and 2011 minis, the 2008 24", and the 2006 20" are all still in regular use in their jobs, so I'm not entirely old-Macless!
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Still amazingly useful this 2 GHz Mini3,1. 😎
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Yup! Gives the machine a little more personality in a place where it's going to be on prominent display all day, every day. Plus some of the stuff on there prompts great questions from the kiddos. Plus, given that I've moved a fair number of them between three iMacs so far, they don't seem to leave any permanent residue when they get taken offSticker invasion!
Yup! Gives the machine a little more personality in a place where it's going to be on prominent display all day, every day. Plus some of the stuff on there prompts great questions from the kiddos. Plus, given that I've moved a fair number of them between three iMacs so far, they don't seem to leave any permanent residue when they get taken off
While I don’t personally adorn my personal hardware with decals (which probably speaks more to my desire of relative invisibility within the public realm, unless I’m out with my key lime iBook), I don’t fault anyone for decorating the machines they use — especially in workplaces and especially in settings (like academia, public libraries, and community outreach) where the presence of decals can help to break the ice and foster a shared grounds for being able to relate with one another. It’s also a wonderful way to personalize an otherwise generic, relatively common product.
When it comes to cleaning old Macs, though, the removal of paper-based stickers (the ones which don’t peel away cleanly) on original MacBooks presents a particular challenge because of how they bond to the surface of the top case and because few solvents can remove the adhesive without damaging that particular type of plastic.
Yeah, my old roommate made the mistake of putting a sticker on the palmrest of his white MacBook, and man that was a PITA to get off later. Luckily I've always found the glossy white surface of the lid to be pretty easy to clean off, though the paper stickers are a pain to get off any surface. Luckily aluminum is pretty good about getting stickers off, and even when they are stubborn, some rubbing alcohol won't do any harm to the underlying aluminum.
Most of the decorations on my iMac are either vinyl, things stuck on with sticky tack or double-sided tape, or laminated paper. There's like two things on there that are paper stickers, and I'm very cautious not to stick those on too hard to make them easy to peel off later.
The front of my iMac is decorated similarly, except that there are no paper stickers anywhere on the front
Yeah, my old roommate made the mistake of putting a sticker on the palmrest of his white MacBook, and man that was a PITA to get off later. Luckily I've always found the glossy white surface of the lid to be pretty easy to clean off, though the paper stickers are a pain to get off any surface. Luckily aluminum is pretty good about getting stickers off, and even when they are stubborn, some rubbing alcohol won't do any harm to the underlying aluminum.
Most of the decorations on my iMac are either vinyl, things stuck on with sticky tack or double-sided tape, or laminated paper. There's like two things on there that are paper stickers, and I'm very cautious not to stick those on too hard to make them easy to peel off later.
The front of my iMac is decorated similarly, except that there are no paper stickers anywhere on the front
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I recognize the iron-melt medium of the monster of Frankenstein there! I once created an abstract design with that same medium, and it now lives on my cork bulletin board.
The fronts of my displays may occasionally get the post-it stuck on for reminders, but I try to keep front-facing distractions to a minimum given the way my brain is wired (neurodivergent: adhd and on spectrum).
Maybe not quite a true Early Intel, but I wanted to show off my new iMac. I picked up a 27" Mid 2011 at Goodwill Electronics for 199. Ive got it booted off a NVMe WDSN750 off Thunderbolt and I put 32Gb of ram in it. Quite a nice machine even with High Sierra. I had hoped for better speeds from the NVMe but I am still happy, much better than the spinner internally. I had thought about doing a dual drive swap and going Raid 0 SSD's but I like the NVME flexibility if I want to change drives
Anything up to a Sandy Bridge Intel Mac (and can boot Snow Leopard) counts in my book as early Intel.
That’s a very nice setup for less than two C-notes.
Cool - which enclosure are you using?
These speeds look OK to me - faster than USB 3.0 and SATA-III (read speeds at least).
Nice! Fun fact, all the machines with Radeon 5xxx and 6xxx GPUs can be upgraded to Big Sur using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. They run surprisingly well if you’re looking for something beyond High Sierra!
That said, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for HS. I’ve still got a pile of Macs running it
I’m using a Trebleet dual slot TB3 enclosure.Cool - which enclosure are you using?
I love OCLP on my 2012 MBP and Air. I haven’t tried it on a non metal GPU in awhile. It seemed a pain with OTAs and the re patching compared to the metal gpu machines.Nice! Fun fact, all the machines with Radeon 5xxx and 6xxx GPUs can be upgraded to Big Sur using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. They run surprisingly well if you’re looking for something beyond High Sierra!
That said, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for HS. I’ve still got a pile of Macs running it