Show off your Early Intel Macs!

[rampancy]

If you want something faster than USB 3.0 aka “ USB 3.1 Gen 1” aka “USB 3.2 Gen 1”, hook up a PCIe SSD via Thunderbolt 1. That’s as good as it gets for a 2013 iMac I’m afraid.

Which brings me to my other, other beef, which came up as I was researching this topic: The utter lunacy that is the USB-IF's nomenclature of anything after USB 2. Also, I didn't realize that the M1 Macs support USB 4 "USB4", which apparently is interoperable with Thunderbolt 3?

Edit: I was also about to complain about the relative cost of a Thunderbolt enclosure with a PCIe SSD, but OWC's Envoy Express for NVMe M.2 SSDs is actually not that bad at $80 USD.

 

[Amethyst1]

Edit: I was also about to complain about the relative cost of a Thunderbolt enclosure with a PCIe SSD, but OWC's Envoy Express for NVMe M.2 SSDs is actually not that bad at $80 USD.

That thing is a trap. You can’t connect it to your iMac because it has a non-removable Thunderbolt 3 cable and thus can’t be used with Apple’s bidirectional Thunderbolt 1/2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. You’d need to add a pricey Thunderbolt 3 dock to the mix.

But even if it connected to the adapter, you’d also need a Thunderbolt 1/2 dock to supply power to the enclosure. The adapter itself doesn’t do that.

 

[John Frahm]

Here’s s my MacBook Pro9.2 (mid 2012), build date July 2014. 16GB ddr3l ram Samsung evo870 500gb SSD, new thermal paste, new heat sink, new fan, new sata3 cable. Running Ventura 13.0.1. Super fast.

 

[Captain Trips]

FedEx dropped this off today - iMac 2009 27" Core 2 Duo E7600. 8 GB RAM (will eventually upgrade to 16 GB), 500 GB SDD, ATI Radeon 4670 with 256 MB, running High Sierra. May eventually upgrade to a patched Catalina or higher, first I want to see what I can do with High Sierra.

Recently got this MacBook 2008 (aluminum unibody). Core 2 Duo P8600, 8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256 MB, running Sierra (may eventually upgrade to patched High Sierra / Mohave / Catalina). I took it along when I went traveling (fun, not work) this past weekend and it worked well. Probably need to get a new battery since the one it came with only lasts about 60 - 90 minutes.

 

[theMarble]

MacBook 2008 (aluminum unibody)

Such an interesting machine. Only on sale for 10 months before being replaced by the arguably better Mid '09 13". They added back FireWire and a new SD card slot, but ditched the easy-access panel and dual audio jacks. The P8600 was also a much better CPU than the base 2.26 on the 13", slightly worse than the 2.53GHz P8700.

 

[GMShadow]

Also weird in that backlighting on the keyboard was exclusive to the 2.4GHz model. Hard to imagine Apple saved enough doing that to make manufacturing and inventorying two units worth it.

 

[avz]

Also weird in that backlighting on the keyboard was exclusive to the 2.4GHz model. Hard to imagine Apple saved enough doing that to make manufacturing and inventorying two units worth it.

The 2GHz logic boards are still have the backlighting connector so there is no major change in manufacturing for Apple in this regard. The actual backlighting is probably not expensive and can be easily installed by any enthusiast.

Such an interesting machine. Only on sale for 10 months before being replaced by the arguably better Mid '09 13". They added back FireWire and a new SD card slot, but ditched the easy-access panel and dual audio jacks. The P8600 was also a much better CPU than the base 2.26 on the 13", slightly worse than the 2.53GHz P8700.

It is possible that Apple was just testing the waters to see the demand for the potential 13 inch MacBook Pros. Late 2008 unibody MacBooks proved to be popular(it is my first Mac) so the rest is history.

 

[Captain Trips]

Such an interesting machine. Only on sale for 10 months before being replaced by the arguably better Mid '09 13". They added back FireWire and a new SD card slot, but ditched the easy-access panel and dual audio jacks. The P8600 was also a much better CPU than the base 2.26 on the 13", slightly worse than the 2.53GHz P8700.

I also found it interesting that the 2008 MacBook (unibody) could support 8 GB of RAM but the 2009 MacBook (white) could only support 6 GB.

 

[rampancy]

I also found it interesting that the 2008 MacBook (unibody) could support 8 GB of RAM but the 2009 MacBook (white) could only support 6 GB.

I'm still incredulous myself, but the 2009 A1181 apparently does work with 8 GB of RAM. According to OWC it doesn't work reliably well, but the various others I've encountered who've done this upgrade seem to be humming along just fine with it. My main worry would actually be being able to find 4 GB DDR2-800 at a reasonble price (though a recent eBay search shows 4 GB SO-DIMMS at around ~$40 USD, which isn't that bad).

 

[TheShortTimer]

I'm still incredulous myself, but the 2009 A1181 apparently does work with 8 GB of RAM. According to OWC it doesn't work reliably well, but the various others I've encountered who've done this upgrade seem to be humming along just fine with it.

When I was looking to upgrade the RAM in my 2009 A1181 to its maximum capacity, I too came across this information and decided against going for the 8GB option because of the warning about performance issues. A Mac group that shall go unmentioned urged me to ignore the OWC warning but I felt that it wasn't sensible to sensible to risk wide-ranging performance problems for just 2GB extra of RAM.

My main worry would actually be being able to find 4 GB DDR2-800 at a reasonble price (though a recent eBay search shows 4 GB SO-DIMMS at around ~$40 USD, which isn't that bad).

With a bit of persistence I managed to hunt down a used 4 GB DDR2-800 module for £25 GBP in 2019, so even factoring in the exchange rates for USD that price seems a tad steep to me. Is that for new ram? I think a better deal could be found.

 

[GMShadow]

I don't think all that many were made/sold, honestly, so supply is low even for the 'low' demand.

 

[zachiedoo]

So this is my Early 2008 4,1 MB. It's currently running 10.6.8. I'm wondering if it can go higher?

 

[Amethyst1]

So this is my Early 2008 4,1 MB. It's currently running 10.6.8. I'm wondering if it can go higher? View attachment 2126235

Mountain Lion (10.8.5) is as far as you can go with graphics acceleration.

 

[zachiedoo]

Mountain Lion (10.8.5) is as far as you can go with graphics acceleration.

OK, I'll start searching for relevant threads. Thanks much.

 

[Amethyst1]

OK, I'll start searching for relevant threads. Thanks much.

NexPostFacto for OS X 10.8 (32-bit)

parrotgeek.com

 

[rampancy]

OK, I'll start searching for relevant threads. Thanks much.

NexPostFacto is what I've commonly seen for installing 10.8 on unsupported Macs. There are however some caveats with regards to certain features missing and pieces of functionality not working.

Another alternative would be to install Linux - I've had a lot of success with Zorin OS 16.2 Core on the MacBook 4,1. Just be sure to upgrade the RAM and replace the HDD with an SSD (which I would recommend regardless of what OS you decide to use).

Edit: Ninja'd by Amethyst1!

 

[zachiedoo]

NexPostFacto is what I've commonly seen for installing 10.8 on unsupported Macs. There are however some caveats with regards to certain features missing and pieces of functionality not working.

Another alternative would be to install Linux - I've had a lot of success with Zorin OS 16.2 Core on the MacBook 4,1. Just be sure to upgrade the RAM and replace the HDD with an SSD (which I would recommend regardless of what OS you decide to use).

Edit: Ninja'd by Amethyst1!

Upgrade the RAM and SSD...music to my tinkering ears 🤣

 

[zachiedoo]

NexPostFacto for OS X 10.8 (32-bit)

parrotgeek.com

Bookmarked! Thanks!

 

[Amethyst1]

Upgrade the RAM and SSD...music to my tinkering ears 🤣

This will be a symphony then.

 

[rampancy]

Upgrade the RAM and SSD...music to my tinkering ears 🤣

@Amethyst1's mad scientist eGPU madness aside, there's quite a bit you can do with this Mac: Replace the slot loading optical drive with a hard drive caddy to install a second hard drive or SSD (IDE-SATA, not SATA-SATA), install a multi-touch trackpad from a 2008 MacBook Pro, replace the AirPort card with a CrystalHD card (drivers are 10.6-only though), on top of various cosmetic mods you may want to do with white A1181 parts (admittedly there's likely less impetus to do those in your case, as the black A1181s were always the most desireable). And if you really want to go all the way, you could take a MacBook 5,2's internals and put them in your black MacBook case (with some internal case modding necessary).

Whatever route you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have fun.

 

[rampancy]

With a bit of persistence I managed to hunt down a used 4 GB DDR2-800 module for £25 GBP in 2019, so even factoring in the exchange rates for USD that price seems a tad steep to me. Is that for new ram? I think a better deal could be found.

The last time I poked around Amazon for 4 GB DIMMs sellers were charging like $50 USD for new stock. As @GMShadow points out, this is still probably because 4 GB was relatively rare compared to 2 GB modules. Sigh.

 

[zachiedoo]

@Amethyst1's mad scientist eGPU madness aside, there's quite a bit you can do with this Mac: Replace the slot loading optical drive with a hard drive caddy to install a second hard drive or SSD (IDE-SATA, not SATA-SATA), install a multi-touch trackpad from a 2008 MacBook Pro, replace the AirPort card with a CrystalHD card (drivers are 10.6-only though), on top of various cosmetic mods you may want to do with white A1181 parts (admittedly there's likely less impetus to do those in your case, as the black A1181s were always the most desireable). And if you really want to go all the way, you could take a MacBook 5,2's internals and put them in your black MacBook case (with some internal case modding necessary).

Whatever route you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have fun.

This MB has sentimental value: my very first laptop. I do use it to watch dvd's, so I don't think I'll be taking out the optical drive anytime soon. I'll likely do the RAM and SSD and limit it to that.

 

[zachiedoo]

The last time I poked around Amazon for 4 GB DIMMs sellers were charging like $50 USD for new stock. As @GMShadow points out, this is still probably because 4 GB was relatively rare compared to 2 GB modules. Sigh.

I found this 2x2GB and also this 4GB. Hefty price difference between 2x2GB and one 4GB. Is there a performance difference? Or would I be better off putting in a 2GB and a 4GB? I don't really know much about these things, I'm just starting out...

ETA: OWC also has this Mercury Electra 3G SSD. Are they good drives? I tend to gravitate towards OWC because they spell it out that it's compatible. When I'm on Amazon.ca, I'm less sure..

 

[Amethyst1]

I found this 2x2GB and also this 4GB. Hefty price difference between 2x2GB and one 4GB. Is there a performance difference? Or would I be better off putting in a 2GB and a 4GB? I don't really know much about these things, I'm just starting out...

If you're fine with 4 GB RAM (which I consider a "reasonable minimum" these days, if that isn't contradictory), then two 2 GB modules will be cheaper and run in dual-channel mode, providing more bandwidth. If you "need" or want the full 6 GB the MacBook can take, your only choice is to install one 2 GB and one 4 GB module.

 

[Amethyst1]

ETA: OWC also has this Mercury Electra 3G SSD. Are they good drives? I tend to gravitate towards OWC because they spell it out that it's compatible. When I'm on Amazon.ca, I'm less sure..

OWC don’t state what controller their “glorious” SSD uses, but it being limited to 3 Gbps may well imply it’s quite old. 6 Gbps was pretty much standard by 2011. That isn’t bad per se, but the BX500 is a more modern drive.

I use a Crucial BX500 in my 2007 MacBook Pro (same SATA controller) and it works fine.