I am doing the same thing right now. My old early 2013 15" Retina Macbook Pro has seen better days, so I am replacing the battery, replacing the missing feet, replacing the thermal past and giving it a good (and long overdue) cleaning. I previously upgraded the SSD to 1TB, so storage is already covered. This is my daily driver and since it has a 2.8ghz i7 cpu and 16GB ram and I patched it up to Ventura, it still performs very well for my needs.
Does you MacBook sleep properly now you've upgraded the SSD? I've heard the older Mac's dont sleep when you close the lid correctly with a third-party nvme. It's stopped me from upgrading my SSD so far as I like being able to just close the lid, leave it for a week and pick up where I left off lol
Yes, I would recommend living with it and making a video about your experience. There are a lot of average people out there with older machines that are still usable for document writing, Zooming, presentation making, light audio and video editing, etc. And thanks to OLP and lightweight Linux distros, they can remain solid daily drivers for years to come, even with paltry specs. Show the limits and capabilities of a machine like this, which is perfectly usable and obtainable for the average computing person working on a budget, someone who can't afford (and frankly doesn't need) the i9s, the M1/2/3s, the 32-64GBs of RAM, etc.
On intel machines I would recommend just install win with bootcamp as dualboot and you will mostly have all you need… Linux is still nothing for the average people, there are win and macOS still better and macOS is already pretty lightweight and efficient, works still best in the Apple eco system that mostly already there (HomePods, AirPods, AppleTV, iPad, iPhone, iPod aso.) and mostly still supported with security updates (oldest still support os is Monterey)… This device get its last security update end last year so for most things it’s still completely fine I would say and when it needs more security you could use Windows, it can easily handle latest version of windows 10 with ez so it’s already useable as it is now, just a couple of dollars more for a windows Lizenz and you have still all you need even when it willing be the fastest… For me it would more then just enough, still just use an iMac late 2009 and it’s still enough for that what it’s there for (so mostly main datamanagement for my NAS drives so just 1 or 2 times a year in use😅), so this MacBook would be so much more then enough…🤷♂ For daily use I highly prefer one of my 3 iPads (air 1, pro 9.7, air 4), cuz it’s 3 they are always quicker in hand, mostly faster and with that simply more often in use, a notebook wouldn’t change anything on that point so like I said the MacBook would be already more then enough for someone like me…
Any Intel MacBook is junk landfill. Throw it out the window. This MacBook isn't even supported anymore, you can't use it for any working ecosystem with updated iPhones or iPads. This isn't a daily driver, it's daily landfill. An average computing person can just use their phone instead. It's like throwing $50 in the bin. Decade old rubbish. And no average computing person cares about Linux or hacking in OCLP.
Vintage Luke Miani video. This is why I like you best from all of the Fruit Fly videographers - you don't just hyperventilate about what is coming (and then end up eating crow for being wrong), you repurpose and resurrect older macs and make them viable again. Kudos to you.
Cuz they are still just enough and will be it for a quit long time… We are at the end of Moores law so as long we didn’t find something new what could replace our actual processing Technologie we will don’t get that much faster in the next 10-20 years and with that all of those devices could still be used in years how it looks for now… So why waisting resources in new stuff when the old stuff still would be useable in years? Any computer of the last 10 years is already in the range of this state (at least the more powerfull once), the same goes for smartphones and tablets… Like I said in an comment above, I still use an iPad Air 1 gen (over 10 years old) and an iMac from late 2009 or an iPad Pro 9.7 and they are all still mostly usable… Of cuz they are kind of slow in loading apps and at least on the iPad Pro it could need a new battery in the next 2 years but they all still do what they should and this still in an exceptable time so even the battery change would sell out over time… Of cuz I have newer devices too (iPad air 4 and iPhone 11) when it comes to thing like onlinepayments and stuff like this but I love to use older devices cuz they cheap and still works great… Only quit of outdated device I use for security stuff like card payment is my Apple Watch 3 but in first it still gets security updates and second the carddatas are stored on this security chip, so no chance to get it without the device itself so for that it would be still secure enough for years s long as I keep an eye on my watch but that’s not a problem with a watch in my eyes…🤷♂
I recently purchased a clean new looking 2015 13in retina MacBook Pro 8g 128 ssd for $150, put an $80 WD black 1tb ssd in it and it's more than I or most consumers would need for basic web browsing, email, media playing, and light gaming. These are still great laptops
@@emilsecker7881 The problem is you thinking something is trash because it's no longer "officially" supported. 😂😂😂 I have a quad-core 2012 Mini that my wife uses running Sonoma and it honestly blows my mind how well it runs. The difference in experience isn't massive compared to my M1 Mini, for simple tasks at least. It's sufficient enough for a decent amount of the population whose main use is just browsing, emailing, etc. As long as it has an SSD, even a SATA SSD, it will be a decent experience, depending on your needs of course. There's a community that puts a lot of work into making these older computers able to run the current OSes long after they've lost support from Apple. Without them, things would be as you say, and people would be forced to upgrade.
97.6% sure that MacBook definitely lived in a smokers home! A very dirty, never washed their hands or wiped down that poor laptop a day of its life lol Great vid! These tear down / restore videos are like therapy lol
Smoker's home? How does smoking deposit gunk on a device? This is in most cases due to people not cleaning their hands after eating and proceeding to use these devices
@@hydrolifetech7911 To0bacco smoke sticks to everything and leaves behind that same yellow residue that was all over this thing. If you ever look at a smokers fingers there's usually a yellow tint from the smoke. This also explains the smell. This MacBook 100% came from a smokers home. /Former smoker
@@invinciblenowyt i’m a heavy smoker, my dorm room’s wallpapers are yellowing because of that but always keep my macbook, ipad, iphone, and pretty much any gadget i owned pristine once a week. i think not all smokers have filthy gadgets you know
Love these restoring older mac videos, they're what got me into doing it a bit myself. Currently watching on my 13" 2015 which is still going strong. Thanks for inspiring me to take apart and restore older macs to give them a new life and save usable electronics from the landfill :)
I paid $100 for a completely good and working 2015, 13 in mac to coinside with my windows gaming laptop since i was tired of dismantling it from my whole setup to go to class, and ive had it for almost 2 years now. it's got sonoma on it currently, still has an okay battery (1100 cycles) and it has become my productivity / school work computer of choice. With a little help from teamviewer as well, I can still (and actively do) just use my windows pc from my mac, if i need to. been one of my bast investments and do not regret it. it does everything I want it to.
I loved this Luke! I hope that people watch this and realize how good of a laptop can be made of these older, wonderfully built Apple computers. The biggest limitation is the RAM. However, smart use and being organized with what apps are open at any one time can overcome much of that challenge. I would love to see what you could come up with as far as using this for most everyday tasks. I am sure it work out great.
Love to see Mac restoration videos make a comeback! Judging from the stickers on the lid, I’d say this was a laptop once belonged to a kid/teen, and the gunk on the keyboard could be something like oily fingers or food residue
OS X Mavericks was so iconic! On that particular laptop, it was so fast unlike macOS Big Sur which felt kinda slow. I had a Mid 2014 MacBook Pro 13-inch with 16 GB of Ram, and it felt fast all through its life but I think the best version was Mavericks and Catalina. Now I have a M2 MacBook Air and I miss when it had Monterey on it. I would love to see a video of you living with that MacBook.
Nice to see you post again! Let's see more soon! Adding the upgrades and fixes puts it over $100 bucks! It's too bad you couldn't upgrade the ram! But for the price you still got a good deal for the money! It's a good backup for your main MacBook!
I am still using my late 2012 macbook pro that I bought for uni back then. It´s still in good shape because I take care of my stuff, even the battery still holds about 4 hours... Already did an SSD and RAM upgrade a while back and thinking about upgrading the software with OCLP as I´m still running macOS Catalina. Speed wise it´s still decent and even runs FreeCAD and the slicer of my 3D printer. So depending on what you´re doing with it you can still absolutely use this kind of machine today.
Low spec model, star stickers, biological hazard; I'd say this was owned by a young girl. Though, as a technician who works on laptops every day, I've know adults that are more disgusting than this. I can't understand how anyone can just accept this level of filth. So gross.
to be honest - absolutely no problem under big sur... writing this from the exact same macbook, and for normal daily stuff, its absolutely fine - just don´t open 10 tabs in chrome at once
My first mac, a Classic, had 4MB of RAM. My next mac, a Powerbook 520c, had 32 MB. With Connectix RAM doubler, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My next mac, a Bondi Blue imac, had 96 MB and I thought "I will never need more RAM." Hah.
I got the 15 inch version of this laptop for $190 and take it with me to Japan every vacation. Works great and it even came with 8GB of ram and 500GB SSD included.
@@emilsecker7881 so? it's not "crap" - old tech is very usable. I have a PowerBook from 2004 that can still browse the web. I daily drove it a few years ago.
Good find and video Luke. I use a late 2013 13 inch Retina Mac Book Pro with 8Gb of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD as my daily driver, it is fast enough for my needs, and even though I run Windows 10 x64 on a 60 GB partition, I still have about 100GB of free space.
Restoring old Macs is my favorite thing to do. I have a MacBook Air Early 2008 that I got for 45 dollars. And, I got that thing up and running again! I love how you used all the tools from iFixit. I use all of those tools as well. Love this video! Great job!
I also have a 2009 MacBook Air but the OS isn't supported anymore so apps can't be updated( google youtube) and Apple won't let me upgrade the OS so it sits in the cupboard gathering dust sad😢
last greatest MBP was the 2012 version. you can get 16 gigs of ram into it, you can take out the disk drive and raid SSD's throwing open core legacy on it allows you to get the latest OSX and swap helps that 16 gigs of DDR3 not feel so bad. want to game? Throw G force now on it and plug in your ethernet cable and bam you got games. you want to have a bigger display for productivity? it can do that just fine. if you want to run a external graphics card I think you can do that too.
Make up and hand lotion. That's the most common thing that causes that. 91% isopropyl will cut through it like a dream, but a bristle brush to get around the keys would be necessary, and I only recommend 70% isopropyl for the display.
I'm watching this video on the exact mac. Bought used last summer for 250 Canadian. Upgraded storage to 512 as well. Running Big Sur. Hooked to a 21 inch monitor. Watch Apple TV plus, YT, IG, Netflix. This thing is.a a beast!
I've been a die hard PC person since the introduction of Windows 95. I can take apart, repair, upgrade and reformat a PC running windows with my eyes closed. But as for Mac I know absolutely nothing about them. I've never owned one and It's somewhere that I just never ventured into. I have been watching your videos to get some ideas on Mac computers and it's looking like a older 2015 or so mac book or even a desktop might be a good place to start and learn all about Mac computers.
You always have interesting content, but these “restore” videos are my favorite. By the way, I assume you took care of the artic paste and fan gunk. I have a 2013 11” MBA and a 2011 11” MBA in my stash and I installed Linux Mint XFCE on it. They are quick and very little stuttering as seen on OCL & Monterey. I do vote for you to go to part 2 with this unit.
I think the "gunk" on the display that you were removing was some gross dirt and residue combining with Apple's anti-reflective coating they have on the top of it. I'd guess the screen will look different from other laptops of the era now! But hey if it looks good, then its worth it for the price
being an aluminium case, you can throw some isopropyl alcohol, let it sit for a minute or so and then start scrape with a guitar pick. It rips the adhesive out fairly nice.
Bought a MacBook Air 13" , 2013 for $30 !!! New SSD , OSX Monterey , had an almost new battery , it's really fast now , so with a little TLC and some upgrades you can have a fully functioning Mac in no time . Thx for posting this video
Thank you Luke, for another very nice video of taking an old Apple computer and making it look "new" again. What, I would like to see you do with this older MacBook is something "fun" such as connect it to a digital TV tuner and record over the air TV shows, or connect it to a science teacher Kit with a probe to measure temperature, etc. (smile...smile).
I have a MBP 13" Retina that I got for about 60 dollars. Unfortunately it had a bad screen, and a 128GB SSD. Now it has a good screen albeit with staingate issues, and a 500GB MVMe drive. It will make a good laptop for a Veteran in need!
Hi Luke.😊 Do you once try Glowing logo MacBook Pro displays into Touch bar MacBook Pro body. Or Glowing logo touchbar MacBook Pro . I guess 2015 MacBook pro 13 inch screen into 2017 13 MacBook touchbar 😅 I wanna to tried out this mod. Do you I saw it in a reel .
Bought a 2013 MacBook pro for £150 (Uk) a few years ago. Added SSD and memory and am still able to run Sonoma on it with Windows 12 in bootcamp. It's a second m/c for when I others are using (my!) iMac but does all the basic admin and office stuff really well and runs windows specific apps when needed including connection to esoteric glider hardware electronics. Brilliant machine. Yes please - love to see a second video...
Yes! Please make a video on living exclusively with this "old," but solid, MacBook for at least a couple weeks. Seeing what software you use is of particular interest to me, as well as any other OS and hardware updates that you may make. Thanks!
Tip for paper stickers that sellers of vintage vinyl records use is to drop a bit of Zippo lighter fluid on them. The naptha soaks into the paper and breaks down the adhesive without ruining the cover, and will have the same benefits on a Mac. The stickers literally fall off.
Always, always wear gloves when handling a laptop when you don't know where it's been. This thing is beyond dirty. I would normally say it was used in a shop or back room, but it's seriously dirty and dinged up everywhere. Seriously, for your safety and our sanity, wear gloves next time and clean it to a polished sheen.
I repurposed my old rMBP mid2014 as a win7 retro gaming machine. Works great. Also handy for using old abandonware apps you can only get from sketchy sources.
Yes. Definite a Part 2 with attempt at installing Sonoma with speed tests before & after. (Would Sonoma be an OCLP upgrade? If so would be amazing to see & if the hassle is worth it). 💻🤘
Last September I stumbled upon a late 2013 version of the same for 40 bucks in near perfect cosmetic condtion, PO said the screen occasionally shut off. Cleaned it up, installed a 1TB Samsung SSD and with a total investment of 96 bucks it works flawlessly.
Nice work. It looks so good now that you would never know that poor old laptop had been heavily encrusted with grime. In fact, the dirt on that Macbook was so thick that I'm wondering if it provided some kind of protective crust!
This is what you need to remove troublesome stickers: Lighter fluid, the stuff to fill Zippo lighters. If its heavy adhesive residue your going to need something much more powerful. I found medical grade adhesive remover (the kind used for stoma's) is way more better for getting adhesive gloop of things. If you van get hold of some, do so. I would also advise getting hold of some make up removal cotton pads. Place the lighter fluid onto the pad and apply (you can put a small amount directly onto the sticker and let this soak in before removal. The medical stuff is to be used after you have got as much gunk off as you possibly can. This either product is safe on plastic. For getting that stuff that you has to scrape off, use windex (spray, leave for a bit and then clean small areas to see if it shifts easy. Final cleaning, use isopropyl alcohol (the higher the grade, the better). Glad that your recycling tech. Love the videos. Keep up the good work.
I have the 2013 8GB model that came with the 500GB SSD. Upgraded the SSD to a 1TB, replaced the battery (that was a chore) installed Monterey on it using OCLP and it works great for what it is. My M1 Air runs circles around it and battery life is not great but I do like having the USB A ports and it runs fine for basic computing.
Great minds! Working on my second MBP Retina. Both will go to long-time friend, (former gf) and her son. Replaced mechanical drives with SSD and results are super. Her son gets the one with a cd drive for games & movies. YOu mentioned something about upgrading the OS. I have another MBP 2015, running Monterey. Share the knowledge if you have time!
Welded-on memory. That's the reason when I bought a newer MBP (for my daughter) on eBay, I bought the mid-2012, since it was the last version that could still be upgraded. I figured since I was going to use the OWC 16GB non-Apple memory upgrade, and switching to an SSD, I looked for one with minimal memory and disk to reduce the price on it. Was my "most expensive" MBP purchase at $89 (before the parts upgrades). My 2010 MBP was $75, and the 2009 MBP was $50. All are currently running Catalina. Next is finishing upgrades on the 2010 27" iMac I bought for $13, yes that's *thirteen*, at a thrift store (just needed the memory replaced, which I obviously already had on hand). Although I'd like to find how to add an additional fan; even with cleaning and new thermal paste it still can run hot.
I'm Mac illiterate,was going to ask why you didn't upgrade the ram but the comments explained the 'soldered ram' situation. Great work cleaning and upgrading this laptop.
The first limit you should push is to get DOS Dude to help you upgrade the RAM to (at least) 8 GB. If you can upgrade the NAN chips in a Apple Silicon MacBook ... just sayin'. These are my favorite vids of yours, Luke. They've actually inspired this ol' retired math instructor to do similar projects.
Managed to get a maxed-out 2015 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro a month ago from a company auction. Found out it was covered by Apple under the battery recall so I managed to get a new battery and screen (an exception made by Apple Support) for FREE! Ended up with a basically NEW 2015 Retina 15 inch for 100 bucks!
There is something oddly entertaining about watching someone else clean up a filthy mac. Great content as usual. After SSD install and memory upgrade, new battery, I'm about to attempt jumping to Monterey via OCLP on my 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro unibody. Wish me luck
Great job. I rescued a late 2013/early 2014 15" macbook pro many years ago. Had to replace the logicboard and the I/O board and it seems to work fine, but only if the screen is disconnected otherwise it won't start. I have output on the hdmi port. That macbook stopped working because the previous owner spilled drink beside it. Not on it, but beside it so the logicboard and I/O board was damaged. Still thinking if i'm gonna keep the screen (replace it) or use it "headless". I haven't decided yet.
what a great video, I am already very clean with my 1 year 14 pro but you make me want to be cleaner still, thank you for inspiring. I will clean it at least once every 2 days now.
Use it daily! Writing this from a Late 2013 4Gb Model. This thing slowly replaced my ryzen Thinkpad after getting it for also around 50 bucks.... Just a great little machine
@@emilsecker7881 why… it just works an has an Even greater Keyboard than my thinkpad. thats all i need… I‘ve got another Logic Board with 16GB of ram lying around, but to be honest - at the Moment, i really dont See why i should spent the Time to Upgrade
it pained me that you didnt replace the thermal paste and clean the fan, those 2 things alone can significantly improve performance. Nevertheless, an excellent video sir!
You can do a lot with this MacBook Pro. I daily drive a mid 2010 base model iMac, it’s super reliable and the Gpu has only died once! But I am looking to upgrade it from the base spec.
Great to see Luke in his wheelhouse. Skip the travel videos, go back to what made us sub. These old macs are still useful with a large fanbase. Still using my 2015 for everything. Yes, please live with it for a week. Thanks.
I have a 2013 15” retina MBP with a small dent on the aluminum body wrist surface area near the keyboard and some small areas of anti reflective coating delaminating from the screen. Is there anyway to repair or swap out these parts to fix it? Do you have a video on those type of repairs?
Living with it day-to-day? Shoot, I JUST retired my 2012 13" Air (running Monterey using OCLP), and will be retiring my 2012 Mini shortly - not because I need to, but because I came across newer machines to replace them that were too good a deal to pass up. You can absolutely daily this machine for the basics, and it will still be a pleasant experience.
The second hand market in the US is a gold mine. Where I live I recently payed the same for a 2011 13 inch macbook prod and the keyboard didn't work. Fortunately the battery and the charger where in pretty good shape and I used them for 2012 Macbook pro
Furniture polish in a spray can will disolve both the paper of the stickers and the adhesive. Wait a few minutes then firmly wipe all the residue off. Voila!!!
I think it would be grate if you could do, a part 2 where you do a colab with dos dude & do a ram upgrade, plus along with a battery replacement . ( that one has some prity swollen pillows in it ) Then you do a part 3 where you live with it for a week . Just imanagen a 3 part run out of what was a $50 MacBook.
I have this exact MacBook Pro haha it still works and its usable for watching TH-cam and doing light web browsing (posting this comment from it actually), but only having 04 GB of ram nowadays is really noticeable, if the ram wasn't soldered I bet you could upgrade to 08 GB and make this a really good laptop for general day to day use, its a shame cause it has a really great display, keyboard, trackpad and general build quality.
I have one just like that as secondary computer. SSD, new thermal paste and ventura by open-patcher and it does a decent job. The battery is still very decent. Even better performance when I use ubuntu.
a tip for upgrading them. you can cheap out on storage on them and buy a slower SSD (the slowest you can find) because the computer can't use the higher read speeds anyway.
I bought a 2015 MBP with an i7, 8GB RAM, 512 GB SSD running Big Sur for $40 and bought a magsafe 2 charger for $20. It was iCloud locked but luckily I was able to get in touch with the previous owner and I bypass it and restore to its Factory settings. The battery was completely dead tho, however it also included the original box, stickers, booklet and an OEM microfiber (never used). I also added an oem Ethernet dongle that I found for $2
3:45 The claim that the MacBook Pro was the "only 13-in retina MacBook Pro that was ever offered with 4 GB" of RAM is inaccurate. Other models, such as the early 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, were also available with 4 GB of RAM 11:24 Well it may be true in general, but it's not necessarily the reason for finding cheap older MacBook Pro models
Just got a 2015 15" (localized keyboard for me) 2.5 ghz, R9 370X for $120 👍 - had original battery (only 100 cycles), but swelling pushing on the bottom plate, due to aging. Waiting for the $40 replacement battery to arrive. Otherwise in pristine condition, keycaps still have the "rough" texture surface, barely used at all.
hey luke! i have that same spec macbook pro except with 8gb of ram! i did the same upgrade to it also! only difference is i paid 88$ and the display had delaminated a bit but i stuck a screen protector over it to hide it... i also replaced the battery with a KEYPOWER one off amazon! its been a great machine so far! i made sure that i went with one WITHOUT a dedicated gpu becuase i had a 2012 15 inch one and the gpu blew up almost exactly a year after i got it!
![I bought a huge PILE of 32 MacBooks for cheap. Can I fix them? [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DowXEdFiFWQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![I bought a huge PILE of 32 MacBooks for cheap. Can I fix them? [Part 1]](/img/tr.png)
Luke restoring an old Mac is like watching vintage Miani! Love these vids!
X2 love it!
“dirt cheap”
In this case, both literally and figuratively.
4GB and soldered, oof. Maybe you can do another Dosdude collab and have him upgrade it to 8GB 😂
That would be sick
Maybe even 16gb
Dosdude can do it with an i7 cpu upgrade too 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@bekim137 id love to see that!
I think it can't be upgraded as this is the 4GB only model that had different mainboard, with less memory chips. But perhaps dosdude gets it done
I am doing the same thing right now. My old early 2013 15" Retina Macbook Pro has seen better days, so I am replacing the battery, replacing the missing feet, replacing the thermal past and giving it a good (and long overdue) cleaning. I previously upgraded the SSD to 1TB, so storage is already covered. This is my daily driver and since it has a 2.8ghz i7 cpu and 16GB ram and I patched it up to Ventura, it still performs very well for my needs.
Really interesting indeed! I recommend using Opencore Legacy Patcher to keep it updated with the latest MacOS updates.
nice!!
Does you MacBook sleep properly now you've upgraded the SSD? I've heard the older Mac's dont sleep when you close the lid correctly with a third-party nvme. It's stopped me from upgrading my SSD so far as I like being able to just close the lid, leave it for a week and pick up where I left off lol
Yes, I would recommend living with it and making a video about your experience. There are a lot of average people out there with older machines that are still usable for document writing, Zooming, presentation making, light audio and video editing, etc. And thanks to OLP and lightweight Linux distros, they can remain solid daily drivers for years to come, even with paltry specs. Show the limits and capabilities of a machine like this, which is perfectly usable and obtainable for the average computing person working on a budget, someone who can't afford (and frankly doesn't need) the i9s, the M1/2/3s, the 32-64GBs of RAM, etc.
I agree with this sentiment under the condition that 8GB of RAM is still the bare minimum.
On intel machines I would recommend just install win with bootcamp as dualboot and you will mostly have all you need…
Linux is still nothing for the average people, there are win and macOS still better and macOS is already pretty lightweight and efficient, works still best in the Apple eco system that mostly already there (HomePods, AirPods, AppleTV, iPad, iPhone, iPod aso.) and mostly still supported with security updates (oldest still support os is Monterey)…
This device get its last security update end last year so for most things it’s still completely fine I would say and when it needs more security you could use Windows, it can easily handle latest version of windows 10 with ez so it’s already useable as it is now, just a couple of dollars more for a windows Lizenz and you have still all you need even when it willing be the fastest…
For me it would more then just enough, still just use an iMac late 2009 and it’s still enough for that what it’s there for (so mostly main datamanagement for my NAS drives so just 1 or 2 times a year in use😅), so this MacBook would be so much more then enough…🤷♂
For daily use I highly prefer one of my 3 iPads (air 1, pro 9.7, air 4), cuz it’s 3 they are always quicker in hand, mostly faster and with that simply more often in use, a notebook wouldn’t change anything on that point so like I said the MacBook would be already more then enough for someone like me…
@@asinglefrenchfry I like using Endeavour exactly for that reason. It's super light weight but robust and it usually has the WiFi drivers ready to go.
Any Intel MacBook is junk landfill. Throw it out the window. This MacBook isn't even supported anymore, you can't use it for any working ecosystem with updated iPhones or iPads. This isn't a daily driver, it's daily landfill. An average computing person can just use their phone instead. It's like throwing $50 in the bin. Decade old rubbish. And no average computing person cares about Linux or hacking in OCLP.
You need test how to upgrade memory to 8GB, if it is possible.
Vintage Luke Miani video. This is why I like you best from all of the Fruit Fly videographers - you don't just hyperventilate about what is coming (and then end up eating crow for being wrong), you repurpose and resurrect older macs and make them viable again. Kudos to you.
I've heard of double-spaces after periods but I've NEVER seen someone do 3 or 4!! lmao
I like how you always promote using an older laptop
Cuz they are still just enough and will be it for a quit long time…
We are at the end of Moores law so as long we didn’t find something new what could replace our actual processing Technologie we will don’t get that much faster in the next 10-20 years and with that all of those devices could still be used in years how it looks for now…
So why waisting resources in new stuff when the old stuff still would be useable in years?
Any computer of the last 10 years is already in the range of this state (at least the more powerfull once), the same goes for smartphones and tablets…
Like I said in an comment above, I still use an iPad Air 1 gen (over 10 years old) and an iMac from late 2009 or an iPad Pro 9.7 and they are all still mostly usable…
Of cuz they are kind of slow in loading apps and at least on the iPad Pro it could need a new battery in the next 2 years but they all still do what they should and this still in an exceptable time so even the battery change would sell out over time…
Of cuz I have newer devices too (iPad air 4 and iPhone 11) when it comes to thing like onlinepayments and stuff like this but I love to use older devices cuz they cheap and still works great…
Only quit of outdated device I use for security stuff like card payment is my Apple Watch 3 but in first it still gets security updates and second the carddatas are stored on this security chip, so no chance to get it without the device itself so for that it would be still secure enough for years s long as I keep an eye on my watch but that’s not a problem with a watch in my eyes…🤷♂
I have two old MBPs, they are still fairly capable, love using older tech.
*An
@@igorturko3585hopefully you have a modern supported daily driver
And?
This 4gb ram got be through college and it was my first ever Mac. Still can’t believe it was only 4gb.
I recently purchased a clean new looking 2015 13in retina MacBook Pro 8g 128 ssd for $150, put an $80 WD black 1tb ssd in it and it's more than I or most consumers would need for basic web browsing, email, media playing, and light gaming. These are still great laptops
Nah. That thing is trash. Time to upgrade. It’ll be unsupported later this year
@@emilsecker7881 The problem is you thinking something is trash because it's no longer "officially" supported. 😂😂😂
I have a quad-core 2012 Mini that my wife uses running Sonoma and it honestly blows my mind how well it runs. The difference in experience isn't massive compared to my M1 Mini, for simple tasks at least. It's sufficient enough for a decent amount of the population whose main use is just browsing, emailing, etc. As long as it has an SSD, even a SATA SSD, it will be a decent experience, depending on your needs of course.
There's a community that puts a lot of work into making these older computers able to run the current OSes long after they've lost support from Apple. Without them, things would be as you say, and people would be forced to upgrade.
97.6% sure that MacBook definitely lived in a smokers home! A very dirty, never washed their hands or wiped down that poor laptop a day of its life lol
Great vid! These tear down / restore videos are like therapy lol
Smoker's home? How does smoking deposit gunk on a device? This is in most cases due to people not cleaning their hands after eating and proceeding to use these devices
@@hydrolifetech7911 To0bacco smoke sticks to everything and leaves behind that same yellow residue that was all over this thing. If you ever look at a smokers fingers there's usually a yellow tint from the smoke. This also explains the smell. This MacBook 100% came from a smokers home.
/Former smoker
@@hydrolifetech7911 You've not seen many if not any computers from a smoking household, have you?
@@invinciblenowyt i’m a heavy smoker, my dorm room’s wallpapers are yellowing because of that but always keep my macbook, ipad, iphone, and pretty much any gadget i owned pristine once a week. i think not all smokers have filthy gadgets you know
It’s clearly just a student’s old laptop. They treat their machines like trash.
Love these restoring older mac videos, they're what got me into doing it a bit myself. Currently watching on my 13" 2015 which is still going strong. Thanks for inspiring me to take apart and restore older macs to give them a new life and save usable electronics from the landfill :)
I paid $100 for a completely good and working 2015, 13 in mac to coinside with my windows gaming laptop since i was tired of dismantling it from my whole setup to go to class, and ive had it for almost 2 years now. it's got sonoma on it currently, still has an okay battery (1100 cycles) and it has become my productivity / school work computer of choice. With a little help from teamviewer as well, I can still (and actively do) just use my windows pc from my mac, if i need to.
been one of my bast investments and do not regret it. it does everything I want it to.
brother... what you were scraping off was the antireflective coating 6:32
These are always my favorite Luke videos. Classic Luke.
I loved this Luke! I hope that people watch this and realize how good of a laptop can be made of these older, wonderfully built Apple computers. The biggest limitation is the RAM. However, smart use and being organized with what apps are open at any one time can overcome much of that challenge. I would love to see what you could come up with as far as using this for most everyday tasks. I am sure it work out great.
Some people just don't take care of their computers.
Their*
I don’t know how people can just treat their stuff like crap. My electronic devices are always impeccable cause I don’t beat the crap out of them.
Love to see Mac restoration videos make a comeback! Judging from the stickers on the lid, I’d say this was a laptop once belonged to a kid/teen, and the gunk on the keyboard could be something like oily fingers or food residue
OS X Mavericks was so iconic! On that particular laptop, it was so fast unlike macOS Big Sur which felt kinda slow. I had a Mid 2014 MacBook Pro 13-inch with 16 GB of Ram, and it felt fast all through its life but I think the best version was Mavericks and Catalina. Now I have a M2 MacBook Air and I miss when it had Monterey on it. I would love to see a video of you living with that MacBook.
Nice to see you post again! Let's see more soon! Adding the upgrades and fixes puts it over $100 bucks!
It's too bad you couldn't upgrade the ram! But for the price you still got a good deal for the money!
It's a good backup for your main MacBook!
I am still using my late 2012 macbook pro that I bought for uni back then. It´s still in good shape because I take care of my stuff, even the battery still holds about 4 hours... Already did an SSD and RAM upgrade a while back and thinking about upgrading the software with OCLP as I´m still running macOS Catalina. Speed wise it´s still decent and even runs FreeCAD and the slicer of my 3D printer. So depending on what you´re doing with it you can still absolutely use this kind of machine today.
Low spec model, star stickers, biological hazard; I'd say this was owned by a young girl. Though, as a technician who works on laptops every day, I've know adults that are more disgusting than this. I can't understand how anyone can just accept this level of filth. So gross.
Living with 4GB of RAM sounds fascinating lol, would love to see a video on that
😹😹 that’s gonna be one horrible experience. Well depends on the use case tho.
to be honest - absolutely no problem under big sur... writing this from the exact same macbook, and for normal daily stuff, its absolutely fine - just don´t open 10 tabs in chrome at once
My first mac, a Classic, had 4MB of RAM. My next mac, a Powerbook 520c, had 32 MB. With Connectix RAM doubler, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My next mac, a Bondi Blue imac, had 96 MB and I thought "I will never need more RAM." Hah.
Nice job Luke! What products did you use for cleaning the screen and the top/bottom case?
I got the 15 inch version of this laptop for $190 and take it with me to Japan every vacation. Works great and it even came with 8GB of ram and 500GB SSD included.
Time to upgrade that crap. It’ll be unsupported later this year
@@emilsecker7881 so? it's not "crap" - old tech is very usable. I have a PowerBook from 2004 that can still browse the web. I daily drove it a few years ago.
I would definitely wear protective gloves while cleaning any foreign laptop.
i would have changed the thermal paste since you opened it up
Good find and video Luke. I use a late 2013 13 inch Retina Mac Book Pro with 8Gb of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD as my daily driver, it is fast enough for my needs, and even though I run Windows 10 x64 on a 60 GB partition, I still have about 100GB of free space.
these are the best videos you make bro
Restoring old Macs is my favorite thing to do. I have a MacBook Air Early 2008 that I got for 45 dollars. And, I got that thing up and running again! I love how you used all the tools from iFixit. I use all of those tools as well. Love this video! Great job!
I also have a 2009 MacBook Air but the OS isn't supported anymore so apps can't be updated( google youtube) and Apple won't let me upgrade the OS so it sits in the cupboard gathering dust sad😢
last greatest MBP was the 2012 version. you can get 16 gigs of ram into it, you can take out the disk drive and raid SSD's throwing open core legacy on it allows you to get the latest OSX and swap helps that 16 gigs of DDR3 not feel so bad. want to game? Throw G force now on it and plug in your ethernet cable and bam you got games. you want to have a bigger display for productivity? it can do that just fine. if you want to run a external graphics card I think you can do that too.
If you can't upgrade the ram it's a solid "NOPE" from me. 😆
I love restoration videos!!
Good job, and I suggest an USB Installer OCLP 1.4.3 then an install of macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 😊
Which will run like shit
I honestly enjoy the restoring videos!
Make up and hand lotion. That's the most common thing that causes that. 91% isopropyl will cut through it like a dream, but a bristle brush to get around the keys would be necessary, and I only recommend 70% isopropyl for the display.
Yes, please! I’d love to see you daily drive this resurrected MacBook. It’s incredible what you’ve done with just $50! 🙌🔥
I'm watching this video on the exact mac. Bought used last summer for 250 Canadian. Upgraded storage to 512 as well. Running Big Sur. Hooked to a 21 inch monitor. Watch Apple TV plus, YT, IG, Netflix. This thing is.a a beast!
Get off Big Sur. It’s unsupported. Time to upgrade that shit to a more modern machine. That thing is junk
I've been a die hard PC person since the introduction of Windows 95. I can take apart, repair, upgrade and reformat a PC running windows with my eyes closed. But as for Mac I know absolutely nothing about them. I've never owned one and It's somewhere that I just never ventured into. I have been watching your videos to get some ideas on Mac computers and it's looking like a older 2015 or so mac book or even a desktop might be a good place to start and learn all about Mac computers.
You always have interesting content, but these “restore” videos are my favorite. By the way, I assume you took care of the artic paste and fan gunk.
I have a 2013 11” MBA and a 2011 11” MBA in my stash and I installed Linux Mint XFCE on it. They are quick and very little stuttering as seen on OCL & Monterey.
I do vote for you to go to part 2 with this unit.
A part 2 would be great to see! Please do more restoration videos. They are my favorite.
I think the "gunk" on the display that you were removing was some gross dirt and residue combining with Apple's anti-reflective coating they have on the top of it. I'd guess the screen will look different from other laptops of the era now! But hey if it looks good, then its worth it for the price
being an aluminium case, you can throw some isopropyl alcohol, let it sit for a minute or so and then start scrape with a guitar pick. It rips the adhesive out fairly nice.
Bought a MacBook Air 13" , 2013 for $30 !!! New SSD , OSX Monterey , had an almost new battery , it's really fast now , so with a little TLC and some upgrades you can have a fully functioning Mac in no time . Thx for posting this video
Lately ive been wanting an old 2008 Macbook and iPod just for web browsing, Music, and movies
Good idea
Thank you Luke, for another very nice video of taking an old Apple computer and making it look "new" again. What, I would like to see you do with this older MacBook is something "fun" such as connect it to a digital TV tuner and record over the air TV shows, or connect it to a science teacher Kit with a probe to measure temperature, etc. (smile...smile).
I have a MBP 13" Retina that I got for about 60 dollars. Unfortunately it had a bad screen, and a 128GB SSD. Now it has a good screen albeit with staingate issues, and a 500GB MVMe drive. It will make a good laptop for a Veteran in need!
Hi Luke.😊
Do you once try
Glowing logo MacBook Pro displays into Touch bar MacBook Pro body.
Or
Glowing logo touchbar MacBook Pro .
I guess 2015 MacBook pro 13 inch screen into 2017 13 MacBook touchbar 😅
I wanna to tried out this mod.
Do you
I saw it in a reel .
I'm waiting for your reply Luke 😊
Reply Luke 😊
Read it luke😊
Bought a 2013 MacBook pro for £150 (Uk) a few years ago. Added SSD and memory and am still able to run Sonoma on it with Windows 12 in bootcamp. It's a second m/c for when I others are using (my!) iMac but does all the basic admin and office stuff really well and runs windows specific apps when needed including connection to esoteric glider hardware electronics. Brilliant machine. Yes please - love to see a second video...
Yes! Please make a video on living exclusively with this "old," but solid, MacBook for at least a couple weeks. Seeing what software you use is of particular interest to me, as well as any other OS and hardware updates that you may make. Thanks!
classic Luke, love this type of videos
Tip for paper stickers that sellers of vintage vinyl records use is to drop a bit of Zippo lighter fluid on them. The naptha soaks into the paper and breaks down the adhesive without ruining the cover, and will have the same benefits on a Mac. The stickers literally fall off.
How (why) you did this without wearing gloves is bewildering
Always, always wear gloves when handling a laptop when you don't know where it's been. This thing is beyond dirty. I would normally say it was used in a shop or back room, but it's seriously dirty and dinged up everywhere. Seriously, for your safety and our sanity, wear gloves next time and clean it to a polished sheen.
Love that you are going back to the OG videos! Love it.
I repurposed my old rMBP mid2014 as a win7 retro gaming machine. Works great. Also handy for using old abandonware apps you can only get from sketchy sources.
I would love to see a video of you using that Mac to see what it can and cannot do.
Yes. Definite a Part 2 with attempt at installing Sonoma with speed tests before & after. (Would Sonoma be an OCLP upgrade? If so would be amazing to see & if the hassle is worth it). 💻🤘
oh I just wish you could have walked through the process of upgrading the ram. Love the video!
Last September I stumbled upon a late 2013 version of the same for 40 bucks in near perfect cosmetic condtion, PO said the screen occasionally shut off. Cleaned it up, installed a 1TB Samsung SSD and with a total investment of 96 bucks it works flawlessly.
Nice work. It looks so good now that you would never know that poor old laptop had been heavily encrusted with grime. In fact, the dirt on that Macbook was so thick that I'm wondering if it provided some kind of protective crust!
This is what you need to remove troublesome stickers: Lighter fluid, the stuff to fill Zippo lighters. If its heavy adhesive residue your going to need something much more powerful. I found medical grade adhesive remover (the kind used for stoma's) is way more better for getting adhesive gloop of things. If you van get hold of some, do so. I would also advise getting hold of some make up removal cotton pads. Place the lighter fluid onto the pad and apply (you can put a small amount directly onto the sticker and let this soak in before removal. The medical stuff is to be used after you have got as much gunk off as you possibly can. This either product is safe on plastic. For getting that stuff that you has to scrape off, use windex (spray, leave for a bit and then clean small areas to see if it shifts easy. Final cleaning, use isopropyl alcohol (the higher the grade, the better).
Glad that your recycling tech. Love the videos. Keep up the good work.
YES PLEASE on the day to day video follow up for this machine, I actually thought that was coming next and then the video was over
I have the 2013 8GB model that came with the 500GB SSD. Upgraded the SSD to a 1TB, replaced the battery (that was a chore) installed Monterey on it using OCLP and it works great for what it is. My M1 Air runs circles around it and battery life is not great but I do like having the USB A ports and it runs fine for basic computing.
Time to upgrade that shit. Should’ve done it 3 years ago
It is wonderful to see this MacBook get cleaned properly and upgraded. They can last a long time.
Great minds! Working on my second MBP Retina. Both will go to long-time friend, (former gf) and her son. Replaced mechanical drives with SSD and results are super. Her son gets the one with a cd drive for games & movies. YOu mentioned something about upgrading the OS. I have another MBP 2015, running Monterey. Share the knowledge if you have time!
Welded-on memory. That's the reason when I bought a newer MBP (for my daughter) on eBay, I bought the mid-2012, since it was the last version that could still be upgraded.
I figured since I was going to use the OWC 16GB non-Apple memory upgrade, and switching to an SSD, I looked for one with minimal memory and disk to reduce the price on it. Was my "most expensive" MBP purchase at $89 (before the parts upgrades). My 2010 MBP was $75, and the 2009 MBP was $50. All are currently running Catalina.
Next is finishing upgrades on the 2010 27" iMac I bought for $13, yes that's *thirteen*, at a thrift store (just needed the memory replaced, which I obviously already had on hand). Although I'd like to find how to add an additional fan; even with cleaning and new thermal paste it still can run hot.
I'm Mac illiterate,was going to ask why you didn't upgrade the ram but the comments explained the 'soldered ram' situation. Great work cleaning and upgrading this laptop.
The first limit you should push is to get DOS Dude to help you upgrade the RAM to (at least) 8 GB. If you can upgrade the NAN chips in a Apple Silicon MacBook ... just sayin'.
These are my favorite vids of yours, Luke.
They've actually inspired this ol' retired math instructor to do similar projects.
Not worth it on something that ancient
Managed to get a maxed-out 2015 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro a month ago from a company auction. Found out it was covered by Apple under the battery recall so I managed to get a new battery and screen (an exception made by Apple Support) for FREE! Ended up with a basically NEW 2015 Retina 15 inch for 100 bucks!
Wait, just want to clarify, the battery and screen replacement is stilll up?
Time to upgrade. It’ll be unsupported later this year
There is something oddly entertaining about watching someone else clean up a filthy mac. Great content as usual. After SSD install and memory upgrade, new battery, I'm about to attempt jumping to Monterey via OCLP on my 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro unibody. Wish me luck
Great job. I rescued a late 2013/early 2014 15" macbook pro many years ago. Had to replace the logicboard and the I/O board and it seems to work fine, but only if the screen is disconnected otherwise it won't start. I have output on the hdmi port. That macbook stopped working because the previous owner spilled drink beside it. Not on it, but beside it so the logicboard and I/O board was damaged. Still thinking if i'm gonna keep the screen (replace it) or use it "headless". I haven't decided yet.
what a great video, I am already very clean with my 1 year 14 pro but you make me want to be cleaner still, thank you for inspiring. I will clean it at least once every 2 days now.
Use it daily! Writing this from a Late 2013 4Gb Model. This thing slowly replaced my ryzen Thinkpad after getting it for also around 50 bucks.... Just a great little machine
Time to upgrade that shit. Should’ve done it in 2021
@@emilsecker7881 why… it just works an has an Even greater Keyboard than my thinkpad. thats all i need…
I‘ve got another Logic Board with 16GB of ram lying around, but to be honest - at the Moment, i really dont See why i should spent the Time to Upgrade
@@-Jakob489- because it’s unsupported and a security liability. That’s why
@@emilsecker7881 Open Core Legacy patcher :)
amazing
I am from India in India it is next to impossible to get MacBook in 50$ in this condition 😢
it pained me that you didnt replace the thermal paste and clean the fan, those 2 things alone can significantly improve performance. Nevertheless, an excellent video sir!
Yes 11:04 , what can you use a 4gb laptop for in 2024
yesss back to restoration coreluke vidssssssss
You can do a lot with this MacBook Pro. I daily drive a mid 2010 base model iMac, it’s super reliable and the Gpu has only died once! But I am looking to upgrade it from the base spec.
Great to see Luke in his wheelhouse. Skip the travel videos, go back to what made us sub. These old macs are still useful with a large fanbase. Still using my 2015 for everything. Yes, please live with it for a week. Thanks.
I have a 2013 15” retina MBP with a small dent on the aluminum body wrist surface area near the keyboard and some small areas of anti reflective coating delaminating from the screen. Is there anyway to repair or swap out these parts to fix it? Do you have a video on those type of repairs?
Time to upgrade. Should’ve done it in 2021
Yo Luke I freaking love these kinda vids from you. You deserve a million subs easily. Keep it up 👍
More laptop restoration videos please! And yes, let’s see you do a video on living with this Mac as your daily driver!
Living with it day-to-day? Shoot, I JUST retired my 2012 13" Air (running Monterey using OCLP), and will be retiring my 2012 Mini shortly - not because I need to, but because I came across newer machines to replace them that were too good a deal to pass up. You can absolutely daily this machine for the basics, and it will still be a pleasant experience.
The second hand market in the US is a gold mine. Where I live I recently payed the same for a 2011 13 inch macbook prod and the keyboard didn't work. Fortunately the battery and the charger where in pretty good shape and I used them for 2012 Macbook pro
Furniture polish in a spray can will disolve both the paper of the stickers and the adhesive. Wait a few minutes then firmly wipe all the residue off. Voila!!!
I think it would be grate if you could do, a part 2 where you do a colab with dos dude & do a ram upgrade, plus along with a battery replacement . ( that one has some prity swollen pillows in it ) Then you do a part 3 where you live with it for a week . Just imanagen a 3 part run out of what was a $50 MacBook.
I have this exact MacBook Pro haha it still works and its usable for watching TH-cam and doing light web browsing (posting this comment from it actually), but only having 04 GB of ram nowadays is really noticeable, if the ram wasn't soldered I bet you could upgrade to 08 GB and make this a really good laptop for general day to day use, its a shame cause it has a really great display, keyboard, trackpad and general build quality.
I have one just like that as secondary computer. SSD, new thermal paste and ventura by open-patcher and it does a decent job. The battery is still very decent. Even better performance when I use ubuntu.
YES! I BELIEVE WE WOULD LOVE A 1 MONTH REVIEW USING AN OLD NOSTALGIC 2012 - 2015 Macbooks
how could you do this without gloves.. I will never know 😂 😅
Get blue gloves, the paper ones for cleaning
a tip for upgrading them. you can cheap out on storage on them and buy a slower SSD (the slowest you can find) because the computer can't use the higher read speeds anyway.
I bought a 2015 MBP with an i7, 8GB RAM, 512 GB SSD running Big Sur for $40 and bought a magsafe 2 charger for $20.
It was iCloud locked but luckily I was able to get in touch with the previous owner and I bypass it and restore to its Factory settings. The battery was completely dead tho, however it also included the original box, stickers, booklet and an OEM microfiber (never used). I also added an oem Ethernet dongle that I found for $2
Time to upgrade that crap. It’ll be unsupported later this year
3:45 The claim that the MacBook Pro was the "only 13-in retina MacBook Pro that was ever offered with 4 GB" of RAM is inaccurate. Other models, such as the early 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, were also available with 4 GB of RAM
11:24 Well it may be true in general, but it's not necessarily the reason for finding cheap older MacBook Pro models
Good that you upgraded to new flash storage, because with only 4 Gigs of DRAM, it's going to be doing a lot of page swapping.
Man, I admire your perseverance, I wouldn’t have touched that thing it was disgusting!!
Just got a 2015 15" (localized keyboard for me) 2.5 ghz, R9 370X for $120 👍 - had original battery (only 100 cycles), but swelling pushing on the bottom plate, due to aging. Waiting for the $40 replacement battery to arrive. Otherwise in pristine condition, keycaps still have the "rough" texture surface, barely used at all.
Please make more similar videos where you buy old/broken macbooks and restore them! Also, show us how you install the new MacOS on the new SSD!
hey luke! i have that same spec macbook pro except with 8gb of ram! i did the same upgrade to it also! only difference is i paid 88$ and the display had delaminated a bit but i stuck a screen protector over it to hide it... i also replaced the battery with a KEYPOWER one off amazon! its been a great machine so far! i made sure that i went with one WITHOUT a dedicated gpu becuase i had a 2012 15 inch one and the gpu blew up almost exactly a year after i got it!