What's the ideal bridge Mac?

[0423MAC]

Agreed, it ain't perfect. My biggest quibble with BS on non-metal machines at this point is that scrolling in Catalyst apps is deeply broken. However, on the flipside, just being able to run a newer OS can greatly increase modern software compatibility. At school, being able to run the latest versions of Office, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, and all that such is incredibly important for keeping a machine relevant. So, for those, I find the compromise much more reasonable. On my personal early Intels, I usually run High Sierra or Mojave. But at school BS allows me to get another couple of years out of those machines at the price of a few apps I don't rely on not working properly.

TL;DR any unsupported Mac OS version is a tradeoff between certain software features being broken or not. Luckily the wonderful hacking community keeps on giving us more options

I think finding the balance is the ultimate challenge since these Intel macs were introduced. It is fun though.

I’ve been having problems connecting my regular AirPods to this MacBook with Mojave installed. It’s not even showing up on my devices. I’m assuming this might be a wifi/Bluetooth module upgrade needed?

I’m interested in seeing how a egpu will perform in modern XBOX One/PS4 or later era gaming on Windows. I can’t imagine something as demanding as RDR2 is possible, but I can see something as recent as NBA 2K21/FIFA 21 running well with a mid range card.

 

[0423MAC]

Playing around with elementary OS on these machines have been fun. Installing reFind is pretty straightforward and the tutorial here is great:

http://aroman.github.io/elementary-on-a-mac/

a note on ubiquity not mentioned in that step by step, it’s not installed so you would have to type:

sudo apt install ubiquity

to grab the package and go forward. Yes, you will have to plug in your Ethernet cable to get started.

what a ride it has been with all these operating systems tested lol. An SSD is pretty much a requirement for any non macOS modern OS installation at this point. I tried the HDD on Windows 10/elementary and it wasn’t a great experience.

to my surprise Mojave worked great on the HDD, but obviously recommend an SSD there as well.

I’m pretty much done playing around. If I had an egpu laying around I would do stress tests on games myself. I’m just not interested in spending $400 on an enclosure + mid level gpu in this market 🥴

For those reading? As of September 2021 these are still very capable machines as long as you are alright with running a slightly outdated macOS and open to alternative installations.

bored and have one laying around? Could be a fun weekend project. I’ll be setting these aside for the proper windows 11 release and do a bit more playing around then 😉

 

[bobesch]

Anyone here have a clue as to the reliability of 2010 15" and 17" MBPs? I'm looking at these and I hear some GPU issues are around yet I've never actually seen people not recommend them as a result, versus the 2011 where people immediately say to steer clear.

My worst ever experience with a 2nd-hand Mac has been with a mid-2015 i5 MBP, that came with a faulty GPU just from the beginning (system-crash, as soon as the dedicated GPU was initialized) and the seller (btw a SysAdmin from an acknowledged national research institute) had been certainly aware of the problem and tricked me in.
I spent another fortune to get the GPU-problem repaired, but that didn't last for long until strange graphic artifacts did appear.
So my conclusion is to better stay off the i5/i7 15/17" from 2010 to 2011, even though I'd rather switch to the last 17" MBP from 2011, since it has the same performance, like my favorite model, the mid2012 15" MBP (which replaced my favorite white c2duo intel iMac-RDP-clients in the office, that I had to give up after 6y of duty, when I was forced to migrate to full Win10-clients - and those mid2012 15" MBP do very fine and can be found now at a reasonable price.)

 

[Amethyst1]

I'd rather switch to the last 17" MBP from 2011,

Keep in mind the AMD GPUs in them are dropping like flies

 

[bobesch]

Keep in mind the AMD GPUs in them are dropping like flies

Oh, thanks for Your encouragement no to give in the temptation ... 😉

 

[Amethyst1]

Oh, thanks for Your encouragement no to give in the temptation ... 😉

You can disable the AMD GPU and just run on the Intel HD 3000 but that’s a serious limitation given how shockingly expensive the 17“ still gets on eBay.

 

[Bustycat]

I honestly believe that the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch ones are ideal. The production volume was huge, the storage and memory are easily expandable, and its stable HD 4000 is immune from glitches found on the 15-inch models. I can still use one every day with a 500 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM installed.

They are relatively cheaper and fully functional with OpenCore Legacy Patcher up to macOS 11 Big Sur.

 

[rampancy]

I honestly believe that the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch ones are ideal. The production volume was huge, the storage and memory are easily expandable, and its stable HD 4000 is immune from glitches found on the 15-inch models. I can still use one every day with a 500 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM installed.

They are relatively cheaper and fully functional with OpenCore Legacy Patcher up to macOS 11 Big Sur.

Aren't those MacBook Pro models susceptible to the issue with brittle hard drive or display backlight cables? I think I remember one specific generation of the 13" MacBook Pro being especially dogged with this problem...(Or was it on the 15"?)

 

[bunnspecial]

I honestly believe that the 2012 non-Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch ones are ideal. The production volume was huge, the storage and memory are easily expandable, and its stable HD 4000 is immune from glitches found on the 15-inch models. I can still use one every day with a 500 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM installed.

The 2012 15" models are rock solid. The GPUs don't have the tendency to suddenly die like the 2011s.

I was using a 2012 15" as my main computer until February of this year, when I decided to replace it with an M1. The 2012 still works fine, but I wanted something lighter and with better battery life. An M1 MBP delivers on both, especially the battery life!

I have both 2011 and 2012 13"s. I bought the 2011 new-it was my first Mac. The 2012 is actually a bit of a mutt-someone gave me a dead early 2011, and I bought a 2012 LoBo on Ebay(about $75 at the time IIRC) and dropped it in. Since the battery was shot on it, I put a NewerTech battery in it and an EVO 860. Don't remember if I upgraded the RAM or not-probably as it was cheap at the time. The HD4000 is a big step up from the HD3000, but the 2011s can run SL. My late 2011 does dual boot High Sierra and Snow Leopard. I THINK I have Catalina on my 2012, but it's been a little while since I've turned it on.

 

[Bustycat]

Aren't those MacBook Pro models susceptible to the issue with brittle hard drive or display backlight cables? I think I remember one specific generation of the 13" MacBook Pro being especially dogged with this problem...(Or was it on the 15"?)

That is for newer Retina models I think.

 

[Bustycat]

The 2012 15" models are rock solid. The GPUs don't have the tendency to suddenly die like the 2011s.

I was using a 2012 15" as my main computer until February of this year, when I decided to replace it with an M1. The 2012 still works fine, but I wanted something lighter and with better battery life. An M1 MBP delivers on both, especially the battery life!

I have both 2011 and 2012 13"s. I bought the 2011 new-it was my first Mac. The 2012 is actually a bit of a mutt-someone gave me a dead early 2011, and I bought a 2012 LoBo on Ebay(about $75 at the time IIRC) and dropped it in. Since the battery was shot on it, I put a NewerTech battery in it and an EVO 860. Don't remember if I upgraded the RAM or not-probably as it was cheap at the time. The HD4000 is a big step up from the HD3000, but the 2011s can run SL. My late 2011 does dual boot High Sierra and Snow Leopard. I THINK I have Catalina on my 2012, but it's been a little while since I've turned it on.

I bought a used one as a secondary machine two years ago and I didn’t want to spend much money on a 15-inch model. I would not recommend this as a primary computer however.

 

[bunnspecial]

I bought a used one as a secondary machine two years ago and I didn’t want to spend much money on a 15-inch model. I would not recommend this as a primary computer however.

13", probably not.

15"-held up admirably to a year of teaching on Zoom, plus still runs Lightroom in some cases better than my M1(esp. when dealing with larger files). The screen is still bright and color accurate, and gives me the same screen area(1680x1050) as the 13" Retina display on its highest scaled setting in the OS.

My 9,1(2012 15") has 16gb RAM, boots off a 1tb SSD in the optical bay, and has a 2tb spinner in the HDD bay.

Would it be a smart investment to go out and spend the money on one in 2021? Probably not, especially as my upgrades were incremental and I imagine someone wanting to use it now would want to spend the money at least on max RAM and a good SSD?. Did it still serve me well in February as my primary computer? No question about it, and in fact there are some things it can do well that the M1 can't do at all(drive 2 external displays).

 

[Amethyst1]

13", probably not.

Agreed, the dual-core is definitely showing its age - I'm seeing slowdowns on my Late 2013 13" MBP too.

 

[MacFoxG4]

I've always found the Mid-2012 non-retina MBP's interesting because they were the last MBP's to have an internal optical drive. I still use internal optical drives, but sadly more and more computers are doing away with them. I thought about getting a mid-2012 non-retina MBP a few years ago, but the prices were too high for me.

 

[Bustycat]

I've always found the Mid-2012 non-retina MBP's interesting because they were the last MBP's to have an internal optical drive. I still use internal optical drives, but sadly more and more computers are doing away with them. I thought about getting a mid-2012 non-retina MBP a few years ago, but the prices were too high for me.

Because of the pandemic and shortage, the prices increased again since last year.

 

[retta283]

Aren't those MacBook Pro models susceptible to the issue with brittle hard drive or display backlight cables? I think I remember one specific generation of the 13" MacBook Pro being especially dogged with this problem...(Or was it on the 15"?)

The 13" MBP unibody design as a whole was plagued with failing SATA cables but for some reason the mid-2012 was the most affected model, because the SATA cable was thinner. 2012 with a high failure rate on the SATA cable and replacing it with a 821-1480-A part would not fix the problem as all those cables were frail. You can get a thicker cable to remedy this, but it can still happen.

 

[bobesch]

You can disable the AMD GPU and just run on the Intel HD 3000 but that’s a serious limitation given how shockingly expensive the 17“ still gets on eBay.

No way. Then I rather continue to use an external monitor with my mid2012 15" MBP ...

 

[0423MAC]

The 15” Mid 2012 non-retina MacBook pros are my favorite macs of all time.

I had the hard to find high-res glossy panel, but sadly had to let it go since it was starting to get too slow for my regular work.

the fans would start spinning up like crazy for any video editing work and absolutely hammer the battery.

Still very capable machines for the majority out there and easily patchable to run Big Sur with ease.

 

[0423MAC]

I'd be a little careful with that, they've also stated that unsupported hardware won't be guaranteed updates, so it might not be a good idea to be installing Windows 11 until that's all figured out.

Unfortunately it looks like more and more systems are being locked out as updates continue to trickle in before launch of windows 11.

I’ll still keep an eye on windows 11 updates on unsupported hardware, but if Microsoft is this persistent it might not be worth the hassle. The good news is that Microsoft has confirmed support for windows 10 till late 2025 and then I’m assuming you will easily be able to find up to date browsers applications a few years after that to theoretically have a laptop that can bridge 30+ years of software, running natively 😆

it gets wilder if you throw Linux in the mix.

Putting a pause on playing with these now. It’s been very fun. for whatever reason my core i5 model is really struggling keeping up. I’ve taken it apart, repasted, cleaned top to bottom and still heating up quickly. The i7 model is doing fine, but the delta between the two isn’t large enough to be this different in terms of how fast the fans need to spin up. Thinking the board on my i5 model might be going soon.

if anyone is unable to get sound on windows 10, this video will help:

Until next time…

 

[repairedCheese]

Unfortunately it looks like more and more systems are being locked out as updates continue to trickle in before launch of windows 11.

I’ll still keep an eye on windows 11 updates on unsupported hardware, but if Microsoft is this persistent it might not be worth the hassle. The good news is that Microsoft has confirmed support for windows 10 till late 2025 and then I’m assuming you will easily be able to find up to date browsers applications a few years after that to theoretically have a laptop that can bridge 30+ years of software, running natively 😆

it gets wilder if you throw Linux in the mix.

Putting a pause on playing with these now. It’s been very fun. for whatever reason my core i5 model is really struggling keeping up. I’ve taken it apart, repasted, cleaned top to bottom and still heating up quickly. The i7 model is doing fine, but the delta between the two isn’t large enough to be this different in terms of how fast the fans need to spin up. Thinking the board on my i5 model might be going soon.

if anyone is unable to get sound on windows 10, this video will help:

Until next time…

There's a version of Windows 10 that has support until 2029, and as a privacy respecting, smaller install Enterprise version, it would actually be rather ideal for a lower end system. Pity you can't just buy Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019, but it is what it is.

That all said, I have to imagine there will be some kind of workaround for Windows 11, what with it mostly working on much older hardware.

 

[bobesch]

if anyone is unable to get sound on windows 10, this video will help:

Had the problem of missing sound on a mid2012 15" MBP9.1 with Windows10Pro.
After many unsuccessful efforts to resolve the problem, I found out, that changing the partition-table from GPT(GUID Partition Table) to MBR(MasterBootRecord) would solve the problem, since BootCamp seems to be designed only to work properly with the combination of GPT (macOS) and MBR (Win).
In my case I first used a GPT-preformatted drive for the Win10 installation and that partition-table was preserved by the Win10-installation-procedure. After many frustrating attempts to establish sound I finally wiped the drive and reformatted it to MBR. The then following Win10 re-installation from scratch and consecutive BootCamp-software installation went smooth and without any problems. Even if it's the hard way I think changing the partition table IMHO is less hassle when it comes to the long run.

 

[0423MAC]

Had the problem of missing sound on a mid2012 15" MBP9.1 with Windows10Pro.
After many unsuccessful efforts to resolve the problem, I found out, that changing the partition-table from GPT(GUID Partition Table) to MBR(MasterBootRecord) would solve the problem, since BootCamp seems to be designed only to work properly with the combination of GPT (macOS) and MBR (Win).
In my case I first used a GPT-preformatted drive for the Win10 installation and that partition-table was preserved by the Win10-installation-procedure. After many frustrating attempts to establish sound I finally wiped the drive and reformatted it to MBR. The then following Win10 re-installation from scratch and consecutive BootCamp-software installation went smooth and without any problems. Even if it's the hard way I think changing the partition table IMHO is less hassle when it comes to the long run.

Very good to know. Always good to have multiple options out there for people to follow.

 

[0423MAC]

Had the problem of missing sound on a mid2012 15" MBP9.1 with Windows10Pro.
After many unsuccessful efforts to resolve the problem, I found out, that changing the partition-table from GPT(GUID Partition Table) to MBR(MasterBootRecord) would solve the problem, since BootCamp seems to be designed only to work properly with the combination of GPT (macOS) and MBR (Win).
In my case I first used a GPT-preformatted drive for the Win10 installation and that partition-table was preserved by the Win10-installation-procedure. After many frustrating attempts to establish sound I finally wiped the drive and reformatted it to MBR. The then following Win10 re-installation from scratch and consecutive BootCamp-software installation went smooth and without any problems. Even if it's the hard way I think changing the partition table IMHO is less hassle when it comes to the long run.

I now recommend MBR as well as doing a bit more playing around as long as you do not intend to connect an egpu. Modern GPUs need to boot into EFI mode to work. More details here:

https://egpu.io/forums/builds/mid-2...-to-tb1-adapter-macos10-13-4-win10-clarketus/

So this is the most I’ve used windows in a very long time. The internal trackpad on these MacBooks works beautifully. Even the 3 & 4 finger gestures are working very well jumping between apps/desktops etc.

The Magic Trackpad 2 however, not as much. I’m assuming this is because Apple does not officially provide support. The 3 & 4 finger gestures refuse to work on this thing no matter what I do in settings.

 

[bobesch]

So this is the most I’ve used windows in a very long time. The internal trackpad on these MacBooks works beautifully. Even the 3 & 4 finger gestures are working very well jumping between apps/desktops etc.

Ha, how the heck did you manage to make the 3/4 fingers work!?

At work, this wouldn't matter since I've Velcro-fixed the MacBooks onto an mStand and use the small Apple-USB-keyboard with USB-attached MagicMouse to prevent the MBP from any liquid-damage. Both the MBP and the USB-keyboard sport TPU-covers for the option of easy desinfection as a Corona-mesure.
But at the MBP, that I use to carry an executable mirrored version of my office-database&documents, I'm desperate to have those 3&4 finger gestures work. The whole desktop-thing on Win10 otherwise comes in rather cumbersome ...
And I can fully agree: the touchpad works extremely smooth on Win10 (compared to it's performance on LinuxMint, which is itself also very good!). Shows the effort, Apple has put into it's BootCamp-support (unfortunately this can't be said about sound-support for the internal speakers).

 

[0423MAC]

Ha, how the heck did you manage to make the 3/4 fingers work!?

At work, this wouldn't matter since I've Velcro-fixed the MacBooks onto an mStand and use the small Apple-USB-keyboard with USB-attached MagicMouse to prevent the MBP from any liquid-damage. Both the MBP and the USB-keyboard sport TPU-covers for the option of easy desinfection as a Corona-mesure.
But at the MBP, that I use to carry an executable mirrored version of my office-database&documents, I'm desperate to have those 3&4 finger gestures work. The whole desktop-thing on Win10 otherwise comes in rather cumbersome ...
And I can fully agree: the touchpad works extremely smooth on Win10 (compared to it's performance on LinuxMint, which is itself also very good!). Shows the effort, Apple has put into it's BootCamp-support (unfortunately this can't be said about sound-support for the internal speakers).

The trackpad support is what stopped me from using windows 7 extensively in the past. However I don’t believe I did anything out of the ordinary to get this to work. It’s hard to believe, but it’s possible Microsoft finally got their act together 🤯

I used these specific bootcamp drivers:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1720?locale=en_US

Then in the touchpad settings within windows I literally have every single checkbox on, medium sensitivity, taps set to action center.

3 finger gestures set to “switch apps and show desktop”

4 finger gestures set to “switch desktops and show desktop”

edit: I have seen some Google results mentioning 3 finger drag and that would be a good one to get working well. It’s amazing how these small touches make such a difference yet are seemingly nowhere to be found within windows settings. I can’t imagine this being an Apple patent, but nothing surprises me anymore.