Show off your Early Intel Macs!

[MultiFinder17]

The original Game Boy's screen is very obsolete then. "Is it on yet?"

Hahaha, that screen was obsolete when it was new. I'm convinced that calling it a pea soup screen had nothing to do with the color and more the thought that it was actually just built using pea soup.

 

[B S Magnet]

Heck, they were still selling non-Retina MacBooks until June 2019 when they discontinued selling the 2017 13" Air.

3aw: “obsoleete!1”

 

[GMShadow]

Heck, they were still selling non-Retina MacBooks until June 2019 when they discontinued selling the 2017 13" Air.

3aw: “obsoleete!1”

To be fair, the Air's LCD was actually kinda bad, especially compared to that iMac. I finally jumped to Retina machines after I couldn't take writing on my 13" Air anymore (going to 15" was another factor).

Hahaha, that screen was obsolete when it was new. I'm convinced that calling it a pea soup screen had nothing to do with the color and more the thought that it was actually just built using pea soup.

At least you can get a super sharp green re-creation today if you desire.

 

[B S Magnet]

To be fair, the Air's LCD was actually kinda bad, especially compared to that iMac. I finally jumped to Retina machines after I couldn't take writing on my 13" Air anymore (going to 15" was another factor).

As I think @Amethyst1 or someone else described not long ago, the MBA’s display was poor not for the non-Retina resolution, but for the impressively poor sRGB gamut, making it one very dull screen to be looking at.

 

[GMShadow]

As I think @Amethyst1 or someone else described not long ago, the MBA’s display was poor not for the non-Retina resolution, but for the impressively poor sRGB gamut, making it one very dull screen to be looking at.

Yes, it's like 43% of sRGB coverage. It was bad even by LCD standards - more something you'd expect to see on a ThinkPad of that era.

 

[B S Magnet]

Yes, it's like 43% of sRGB coverage. It was bad even by LCD standards - more something you'd expect to see on a ThinkPad of that era.

More like 2000s standards. I wouldn’t expect that from gear introduced during the 2010s.

 

[Amethyst1]

Yes, it's like 43% of sRGB coverage. It was bad even by LCD standards - more something you'd expect to see on a ThinkPad of that era.

Funny that you mention it. A ThinkPad T420 I was briefly assigned at a prior job (the new machine was delayed) had the absolute worst screen ever. 1366×768 TN "of course", but the colours were so dull and washed out, it was unbelievable.

 

[GMShadow]

Funny that you mention it. A ThinkPad T420 I was briefly assigned at a prior job (the new machine was delayed) had the absolute worst screen ever. 1366×768 TN "of course", but the colours were so dull and washed out, it was unbelievable.

Yes, some ThinkPad enthusiasts I know used to point out that the low end screens were beyond horrid, even in the 2010s.

 

[MultiFinder17]

3aw: “obsoleete!1”

Sorry, what’s that say? I can’t read text on this obsolete non-Retina screen.

 

[swamprock]

Yes, it's like 43% of sRGB coverage. It was bad even by LCD standards - more something you'd expect to see on a ThinkPad of that era.

Must be the 13" models, of which I've never owned one. I never minded the 11" Air's screen, but then again, smaller dot pitch.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I don't understand why people use screens with less than "retina" resolutions, the first retina laptop screen came out in 2012, there is no reason why anyone should settle for less ever since.

You'll be our benefactor and provide us all with the funds to make this happen, of course?

Hahaha, that screen was obsolete when it was new.

You gave me a flashback to this attempt by Atari to highlight that fact to consumers.

A travesty that the Atari Lynx, despite holding the upper hand in every technical department against the GameBoy was a flop and has been largely forgotten - even though both products were released in the same year. The Lynx was designed by RJ Mical and Dave Needle: members of the team responsible for the original Amiga and it was noted at the time that its specs actually outdid the Amiga's (let alone the GameBoy's!) on the gaming front - an impressive feat for a handheld against a fully fledged computer.

The legendary incompetence of Atari Corp. coupled with their bad reputation within the industry doomed it to ignominious failure.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Must be the 13" models, of which I've never owned one. I never minded the 11" Air's screen, but then again, smaller dot pitch.

Eh, even the 11” screens aren’t great, and this is coming from someone that’s dailied one for years and years now. I don’t really mind it when using it, but when you put it next to, well, anything it’s pretty poop. Certainly not unusable, as I’ve cranked out more papers and whatnot on an 11” air than I can remember, but not great.

Like so many things it’s fine in a vacuum but is less than stellar when compared to something blatantly better

 

[chaosbunny]

Funny that you mention it. A ThinkPad T420 I was briefly assigned at a prior job (the new machine was delayed) had the absolute worst screen ever. 1366×768 TN "of course", but the colours were so dull and washed out, it was unbelievable.

Yes, some ThinkPad enthusiasts I know used to point out that the low end screens were beyond horrid, even in the 2010s.

I had a client a couple of years ago who complained about my videos and photos looking washed out, even though I bumped the saturation a bit to satisfy her preference. Then I visited her office ... huge windows and the sun shining on her old Thinkpad all day long. I told her to watch the videos on the phone instead, no problems ever since.

 

[Amethyst1]

You gave me a flashback to this attempt by Atari to highlight that fact to consumers.

Or the Sega Game Gear. Its backlit colour LCD ate batteries like crazy though. There was even a TV tuner with external inputs for it. 'twas the time of portable TVs after all, and why not try to get additional sales from that crowd?

 

[TheShortTimer]

Or the Sega Game Gear. Its backlit colour LCD ate batteries like crazy though. There was even a TV tuner with external inputs for it. 'twas the time of portable TVs after all, and why not try to get additional sales from that crowd?

Absolutely. Here's what Dave Needle had to say about the Game Gear.

Quoted from Videogames Hardware Handbook Vol 1.

Then along came Sega, who introduced us to the Game Gear in 1991. For Lynx, this meant the end was nigh. Although the Lynx remained the superior machine, the Game Gear benefited from Sega’s advertising drive and the Japanese company’s resources. What was more frustrating was Game Gear’s similarities to Lynx. “Game Gear was an interesting issue,” Needle remembers. “Sega was shown all of the Handy’s innards and schematics and specs as part of an attempt to partner with them after the Epyx marketing fiasco. And to see what I consider to be pretty much a copy of the Handy was a bit infuriating.”

He continues, “I had become friends with one of the engineers at Sega, and during the
last development stages of the Game Gear, after I had already left Epyx, Sega hired me to help with a few lingering product issues. I went to their Japan facility and they showed me the problems they were having. Some issues were just weak engineering on their part, showing me that they did not understand the functionality of the hardware they were copying. They had the output palette wrong, among other things.”

 

[GMShadow]

The Game Gear is just a miniaturized Master System, really. It's not a copy of the Lynx. That claim is pretty sketchy in light of that.

 

[Captain Trips]

Just got a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" (MacBookPro6,2) with the 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo T9900. It came with a 256 GB SSD (good enough for what I will use this MBP for), I upgraded the memory to 8 GB and put in a new NuTech battery (3 cycles). And it looks like it has the anti-glare/matte screen - nicer than the 2010 MBP 17" glossy screen and the bezel is silver instead of black. I have Mohave installed, courtesy of DosDude1's patcher.

The memory and battery came from a MBP 2010 17" that finally gave into dGPU failure (black screen within a minute or so of logging in). This 2010 model I bought used while waiting to see what the Apple Silicon models would look like, and I think I more than got my money's worth out of it.

But still, there is something about those 17" MBPs that I like, so I took a chance on a 2009 model - I have heard that the dGPUs on the 2009 have less trouble than the 2010s an 2011s.

For now the single click doesn't work on the trackpad, although everything else on the trackpad does work. I am using Touch to Click until I can better troubleshoot the issue. Other than this, everything is working well so far.

JB approves of the new purchase: "That is a big MacBook!"

 

[B S Magnet]

Just got a 2009 MacBook Pro 17" (MacBookPro6,2) with the 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo T9900. It came with a 256 GB SSD (good enough for what I will use this MBP for), I upgraded the memory to 8 GB and put in a new NuTech battery (3 cycles). And it looks like it has the anti-glare/matte screen - nicer than the 2010 MBP 17" glossy screen and the bezel is silver instead of black. I have Mohave installed, courtesy of DosDude1's patcher.

The memory and battery came from a MBP 2010 17" that finally gave into dGPU failure (black screen within a minute or so of logging in). This 2010 model I bought used while waiting to see what the Apple Silicon models would look like, and I think I more than got my money's worth out of it.

But still, there is something about those 17" MBPs that I like, so I took a chance on a 2009 model - I have heard that the dGPUs on the 2009 have less trouble than the 2010s an 2011s.

For now the single click doesn't work on the trackpad, although everything else on the trackpad does work. I am using Touch to Click until I can better troubleshoot the issue. Other than this, everything is working well so far.

JB approves of the new purchase: "That is a big MacBook!"
View attachment 2211697

This purchase wouldn’t have mattered had JB not approved of it.

As the human servant for my own kitty, I don’t make the rules, our feline overlords do.

 

[Captain Trips]

This purchase wouldn’t have mattered had JB not approved of it.

As the human servant for my own kitty, I don’t make the rules, our feline overlords do.

"I work hard so my cat can have a better life." This includes providing computers to lie on, sit next to, and rub face against.

 

[TheShortTimer]

The Game Gear is just a miniaturized Master System, really. It's not a copy of the Lynx. That claim is pretty sketchy in light of that.

Unfortunately Needle passed away in 2016, otherwise I would've been tempted to contact him and ask if he'd expand on how he felt Sega had copied the Lynx's design.

 

[misterminibus]

My new pride and joy, I had a 2009 MBP duel core which was just a little too slow for an everyday machine so here is my new 2012 I7 quad core running Ventura with 8GB and it’s rapid but I can’t seem to get 16GB working

 

[B S Magnet]

My new pride and joy, I had a 2009 MBP duel core which was just a little too slow for an everyday machine so here is my new 2012 I7 quad core running Ventura with 8GB and it’s rapid but I can’t seem to get 16GB working View attachment 2216419 View attachment 2216420 View attachment 2216421

1) Lovely rig. Leggy display! (yes, I know that’s the Isle of Man)

2) You have identical, matching SO-DIMMs in both slots, yes?

First priority: ar ethe two SO-DIMMS the same make/purchased at same time/ are thesame size? Not essential, but makes troubleshoot easier.

Second priority: if not, then do the SO-DIMMs share same speed (e.g., 1600MHz, 1833MHz, etc.) and have, separately, been verified to work OK in at least one of the two slots?

Third priority: checking either slot with one or more verified SO-DIMMs and running “memtest” from single-user boot mode to verify the test comes out “clean”. First, check with both sticks of RAM in place. If it fails then, next, pull out one SO-DIMM and run memtest again. If tha SO-DIMM comes out “clean” in the one slot, try it in the other. It it comes out clean and tests OK, swap with the other SO-DIMM and repeat memtest with it in each of the two slots. If it fails in one of the slot, check the slot to make sure the it is, visually, spotless and no dust/artifacts happen to be blocking its contact points with where the SO-DIMM goes.

If, after all this you find no success with that slot, then it’s probably a faulty and/or failing slot. If it turns out that one of the SO-DIMMs passes in either slot but the other fails in one or both SO-DIMM slots, then it is either that SO-DIMM which had some issues or the slot which has issues.

 

[misterminibus]

Both sticks are new and identical, both will work in the bottom slot as 8GB and both will work in the top as 8GB but with both 8GB sticks in (16GB in total) I get 3 beeps, its confusing, any ideas?

 

[B S Magnet]

Both sticks are new and identical, both will work in the bottom slot as 8GB and both will work in the top as 8GB but with both 8GB sticks in (16GB in total) I get 3 beeps, its confusing, any ideas?

I would definitely grab a copy of memtest, put the binary in an easy-to-access/remember directory, boot up the system in single-user mode (holding down Cmd-S at power-up), mounting your drive as the single-user mode instructions specify, and just letting memtest run (check options with, i think, a “memtest --help”). I’d run a longer test, each time for each of the slots. If nothing odd happens, repeat the same with the other RAM stick.

memtest takes a little while, but it’s very thorough. Also, figuring out RAM issues is one of the most frustrating and time-consuming things to troubleshoot.