What have you done with an early Intel recently?

[headlessmike]

It works fine for me with 2GB RAM so 8GB would be luxurious.

Haha! I was going to write that 8 GB is more than enough for Catalina but was worried that someone would start an argument about how having less than 32 GB causes cancer or something. This thread might be a safer place than the rest of MacRumors though in that regard 😅.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Haha! I was going to write that 8 GB is more than enough for Catalina but was worried that someone would start an argument about how having less than 32 GB causes cancer or something.

That's too funny.

This thread might be a safer place than the rest of MacRumors though in that regard 😅.

This forum and the PPC one are essentially havens from those attitudes.

 

[DCBassman]

This forum and the PPC one are essentially havens from those attitudes.

My limited experience with the rest of the site reinforces this.

Back on topic:both iMacs 2009 and 2011 are now maxed-out RAM-wise, and I should never again have to unscrew those RAM slot access doors! This also leaves me with a spare 8GB stick for the 2011 MBP, should I ever manage to revive the lower RAM slot. I did think of maxing the for-sale 2008 iMac also, but the one DDR2-800 stick would cost more that the current sale price of the machine...

 

[DCBassman]

And the final, for now, bits of Mac kit are a refurbished Magic Mouse/Keyboard 2, as these are, in my admittedly limited experience, the only such peripherals with such good Bluetooth performance, on or off Apple machines. Not sure if there are any compatible drivers for the mouse on Windows or Linux, but will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Next step is to try an in-place upgrade from Monterey to Ventura on the 2011 iMac, and maybe to Sonoma eventually. Given that it's pretty happy with Monterey, I see no obvious reason why either upgrade should fail.
The 2009 C2D is still happy on High Sierra, but I have only once tried to use OCLP on that. I might try again now it has lots of RAM.

 

[DCBassman]

Today was OCLP day again.
Early 2011 MBP 8,2 from Monterey to Ventura. Rather laggy and jerky, but may be due to being throttled back because there's no battery. New one incoming, so will see what happens.
Late-2009 iMac 10,1 27" Core2 Duo from High Sierra to Monterey. I seem to remember the first time I tried this, it was not too wonderful, so I just got the apps I wanted and returned it to HS.This time, with 16GB RAM installed, it seems nice and smooth, but I've only had it up and running a short while, so we shall see...
Mid-2011 iMac 12,1 21.5" i5 from Monterey to Ventura. Entirely straightforward, with no gotchas along the way. Might try this with Sonoma, no obvious reason why it won't work.

Did also have a go at getting the MBP to recognise more RAM, but it obstinately refuses. Apart from crap soldering, what else can realistically cause so many of these to have bad RAM slots?

 

[Mark.g4]

I completely disassembled my old Mac Pro, cleaned every corner, reassembled it.
I've done some benchmarking and I'm deciding which upgrades to buy to make this computer current again.
Old Mac Pros are the best Mac Pro ever.

 

[mortlocli]

got MX Linux working from a 32GB usb stick for both my early iMacs.. a 5,1 2006 17inch and a 1009 10,1 21 inch.

Had this stick fail and reformatted it a few times but got there in the end.
One issue I have with linux is there's no fan monitoring that works with a mac..that Ive found (so far.)
And streaming movies and some browsers cause very high temps.

 

[wicknix]

I'm deciding which upgrades to buy to make this computer current again

Other than an SSD i think you're fine. That machine will eat anything you throw at it. I just recently brought mine up to Monterey via OCLP. Runs like a champ.

 

[TheShortTimer]

It's such a shame that the earlier Mac Pro's cannot run any macOS versions beyond El Capitan due to the SSE 4.x issue. Anyway, it's not the end of the world and there are still plenty of other options available - including making the most out of earlier versions and/or using Linux and Windows as supplements.

 

[DCBassman]

Late-2009 iMac 10,1 27" Core2 Duo from High Sierra to Monterey. I seem to remember the first time I tried this, it was not too wonderful, so I just got the apps I wanted and returned it to HS.This time, with 16GB RAM installed, it seems nice and smooth, but I've only had it up and running a short while, so we shall see...

Nope, a mess of broken up graphics, caused by, it seems, the wifi searching after sleep. Will make certain I've removed all that I need from it, and go for Manjaro 23/Cinnamon.

 

[Mark.g4]

Other than an SSD i think you're fine. That machine will eat anything you throw at it. I just recently brought mine up to Monterey via OCLP. Runs like a champ.

View attachment 2296356

I’m thinking about an NVME on PCIe card adaptor for operating sistem and 2 SSD RAID 0 as memory for data.

 

[Chuckeee]

This will probably make others sad, but it help me bring closure.

My late 2012 27” iMac had a failed HDD and the power supply died. I pieced out and sold the (undamaged) screen and RAM. Shipping out the sold display this afternoon and sold the last of the RAM today.

Sent the rest to a local charity conducting a recycling event this last weekend. (After removing and permanently physically destroying the HDD.)

Good bye old friend 😭

 

[ToniCH]

I inventoried some of my parts boxes and arranged memory to one box, processors to another etc. Also marked them so it would be easier to find what I need in the future. I have bad habit of searching quickly, not finding and then order new and find them later. This time I found loads of memory to many machines but of course not the most ancient ones I would soon be needing. Must go to my warehouse and dig through older boxes.

EDIT: Now I realized that I have suitable memory to upgrade my Mac Mini 2007 to max RAM. So, immediate advantages for being organized - after all these years! 👍 😂

Anyways, some early Intel processors, didn't even remember all of them:
Top: Core2Duos T7200 2.0GHz, E7600 3.06GHz, E8600 3.33GHz
Middle: Xeon X3470 2.93GHz, i7-870 2.93GHz, i7-2600 3.4GHz
Bottom: Xeon X5690 3.46GHz x 2, X5675 3.06GHz x 2, W3530 2.8GHz

 

[MBAir2010]

I need advice.

the MacBook air 2010 4gb RAM wont turn on via the power button
so I use a screwdriver on 2 points on the logic to fire the baby up!

I have an extra loci board but with 2GB RAM that does power on the normal way.
my plan is to use the display case and attach that to the 2GB and sacrifice the "umphs"
( I will attached the battery last after the dimply port is attached)
the MBA has a new power chord, 2 weeks ago and new battery from Dec 2022.
and would run Snow Leopard and Mt Lion on 2 sd drives.

will 2 GB be enough to run mountain Lion?
this would be used for fun, a scanner and just to remember the 2009s
the other 2 MacBoos I sue will be used for internet and real things.

thanks in advance!

 

[ToniCH]

the MacBook air 2010 4gb RAM wont turn on via the power button
so I use a screwdriver on 2 points on the logic to fire the baby up!

Have you tested with a multimeter if the power button works?

 

[TheShortTimer]

will 2 GB be enough to run mountain Lion?

More than enough.

2GB is good enough for me to run Catalina and Mojave. See for yourself.

 

[Heindijs]

Other than an SSD i think you're fine. That machine will eat anything you throw at it. I just recently brought mine up to Monterey via OCLP. Runs like a champ.

View attachment 2296356

I'm curious what the reason for going with Monterey is as opposed to Ventura or Sonoma. Afaik most stuff that used to be broken in Ventura now works as well as it does on either Ventura or Sonoma since OCLP 1.0.1.

 

[MBAir2010]

Have you tested with a multimeter if the power button works?

Yes, we looked at the board back in 2016 and that power- cap lock lite chip defected.
everything else works perf3ctly.

 

[MBAir2010]

More than enough.

2GB is good enough for me to run Catalina and Mojave. See for yourself.

that is a nice set Up!

thank you for the info!

 

[ToniCH]

Yes, we looked at the board back in 2016 and that power- cap lock lite chip defected.
everything else works perf3ctly.

Don't know what "power cap lock lite chip" is but if you can start it by shorting (?) something with a screwdriver, can you not replace the screwdriver with the (or a) start button?

 

[wicknix]

I'm curious what the reason for going with Monterey is as opposed to Ventura or Sonoma. Afaik most stuff that used to be broken in Ventura now works as well as it does on either Ventura or Sonoma since OCLP 1.0.1.

My macpro's usb ports arent supported on 13 or 14. Tried it anyway. No keyboard or mouse. Besides 12 is still supported for another year and it's rock stable.

 

[DCBassman]

Received and installed a new iFixit battery and 500GB SSD in the early 2011 MBP. Used the old drive in a caddy to prepare the new drive with OCLP, and now doing clean install of Ventura while the battery calibrates. Seem to have lost KB backlight. Rats.

 

[Heindijs]

My macpro's usb ports arent supported on 13 or 14. Tried it anyway. No keyboard or mouse. Besides 12 is still supported for another year and it's rock stable.

That's weird. I thought they had a fix for that which gets applied after installing the root patches. At least that's how it also works for my 2009 mini

 

[MBAir2010]

Don't know what "power cap lock lite chip" is but if you can start it by shorting (?) something with a screwdriver, can you not replace the screwdriver with the (or a) start button?

that is a trick we used when MacBooks would not power on
there are 2 pins on every one before 2015 as a small screwdriver is set on there pins, the MacBook starts!
very cool, !

 

[ToniCH]

that is a trick we used when MacBooks would not power on
there are 2 pins on every one before 2015 as a small screwdriver is set on there pins, the MacBook starts!
very cool, !

OK, good to know. But, why not solder leads from a switch to those pins?