As an IT Admin of 26 years, 15 being at an mostly Apple school, I do this all the time with our old teacher laptops. I most recently bought a 2014 MacBook Air for $1 due to non-working condition that someone slapped on it. It was just a bad M.2 and battery, took a M.2 from a parts machine slated for recycling. I then upgraded the ram to 8GB, replaced the bad battery with a new old stock OEM battery from eBay with 2 cycles. I installed MacOS Ventura using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. It works great for vacation trips, watching "legally Downloaded" movies, Netflix etc. Works great for downloading, storing and editing all of our vacation pictures and short videos. I also take it to my in-laws for entertainment purposes because they live in the sticks with basically no internet. I've sold a few this way too, great easy money. I even made more off one I painted black due to it was a complete tear-down to repair anyway. So Thanks Austin for doing a vidoe to show old hardware still has some life in it, just make sure to install all security patches. Then install linux when it gets outdated. Ubuntu works great on these old MacBooks!
@@drbass9677Maybe they desoldered the ram and memory controller and swapped them with another one that they found on another matching logic board and resoldered all just for 4gb more of ram 😃 /s
I did the same to an a1278. This mac was going to the bin. I replace keyboard, battery, Harddisk, speakers and wifi card, put on 8gb of ram, a SSD, a bought a hd caddy to replace the broken CD drive, and now sports 2 SSDs. Perfectly usable and lots of fun rebuilding uit
Had the same issue with my MacBook, took me multiple hours to install MacOS on that thing... Linux and Windows installed within minutes. Its crazy how apple doesn't want you to use their OS on their machines ^^
Years of use out of it- AUSTIN EVANS. And it's all thanks to the OCLP- Open Core Project and Team which help with older Mac's being usable still now till the future. Without the OCLP and the team dedicated to providing this for so many different models of older Mac's , their saving people lots of money and upgrading older Mac's.
Used to eBay & craigslist laptops like this all the time as a side hustle back in like 08. Macs were always my favorite as could make the best return for my efforts. Glad to see that kind of recycling still being done
Doing the same as a side hustle to get me extra spending cash through college, profit is decent turnover is long I avoid eBay because of there large fees but eBay could potentially increase volume.
A fun and interesting video showing how to bring new life to old devices. But missing the important point that this cannot be done with modern MacBooks: no user upgradable ram; no user upgradable storage; IF you can find parts they are likely serialized and require software pairing. It is very sad to see neat (and useful) projects like this will be impossible in the future.
I got lucky with a i7 16gb macbook pro from 2017, payed 230€ for it and the guy said it just turned off. Reset and reinstalled the os and cleaned the super dusty fan and it works like a charm and its even in like new condition. So happy for my first macbook. The 2500x1600 display is still soo good.
I love how repairable older Mac models were compared to newer ones. It's sad Apple doesn't support these Macs with new OS versions. I'm using a Macbook Pro 2012 that still works great (read 4k video editing on fcpx using proxies) but stuck with Catalina. No security updates either.
I was given a mid 2009 MacBook Pro 15", 8 Gb ram. It needed a cleaning, a battery and I put in a 500GB Samsung 870 EVO with Catalina. I spent $100 CDN, so mine was cheaper. It's my first Mac so it's perfect for light office work when I need to spend more time in the office.
Over here in the uk a short while ago I purchased a early 2015 MacBook Pro with delamination and battery service error (bloated battery just needed replacing) I paid the equivilant of $80 for the MacBook and $36 for a 3rd party battery. Yes it would of been $16 over your budget but it would of been a much better option especially as it used M.2 SSD
Alright I’m convinced. I have a 2012 15” pro that’s been sitting in my closet for years. If I remember right it was a mid tier one with an external GPU, and an i7. I need to do this and get it running again.
I just got an i5 2012 and upgraded the ram to 16 (yes 2012 can do 16) and ssd. mine is running seqouia no problem. in fact it's so good that now it's my daily laptop. after upgrades it cost me 100usd. just make sure to repaste the cpu
This is much faster and more usable than that MacBook that has a screen size of a tablet. He should have built what you have built or bought a tablet instead
I’ve taken many Mackbook out of the recycling bin, and honestly even the ones that are old. Have always turned out amazing all things considering. It’s amazing how long they last.
mid 2012 MBP are still fantastic you can use Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) to even install the latest macOS 14 Sonoma, they also run Linux super well, they can be had super cheap and honestly I think they are a better buy than some newer end low end chrombook/windows computer that would have nasty build quality and have a very super low end modern CPU, I personally have a Mid 2012 13" i7 2.9ghz with 16GB RAM & 500gb SSD and I use it with Linux mostly and it performs perfect for what I need.
I've refurbished my wife's MacBook Air from 2010 with a new battery and thermal paste + cleaning, but I was not able to get OpenCore Legacy running .. I've tried and repeated this process several times until I gave up. Now it runs the latest Ubuntu with a fully MacOS Monterey skin (booting screen too) and my lovely wife thinks it is still Mac. The system is stable and she can use the latest software (so she needs just web browsing and mail...) Am I cheating her?
I had a 2011 MacBook Pro from new. Lasted me to 2020 (maybe 2021) till the logic board just died one day. I did the 16gb ram upgrade, new battery, ssd and replaced the disc drive with the original hdd. If it wasn’t for the logic board dying I think it would still be with us to this day! These laptops were the best!
I owned a used 2012 Unibody MacBook and it for the years I used it it was a great little computer, I ended up replacing it for an M1 Pro 16 inch but for the 4 years I did use my unibody, it was a great wee machine. I did all these upgrades to my unibody before I sold it and my gosh it’s such a runner, wish I did them sooner rather than paying a lot of money for my M1 machine, probably would still be using it today butttttt, idk I wanted a new computer 😂
i feel like the disk error pops up when the user initially installed open core and patched the machine upto macos 13.3 Ventura so the disc pops up when it tries to boot of the macos 13 which it cant unless boots with open core efi partition to gain access to Ventura. a simple option key on boot would select the opencore partition and boot from the macos 13
Shame you needed a newer MacBook at times to restore the old one. I think anyone trying to do this won't have new hardware lying around to support themselves.
I think you can do this again pretty easily with a 2013. Personally bought one for cheap a few months back as the previous owner thought it would need a new screen. Turns out it was apples anti glare layer coming off and it was easy enough to remove completely. Installed open core and currently running Ventura without much of an issue.
i just bought a 2017 MacBook Air '13 1.8GHz core i5 with 8GB of ram and 128GB of SSD used for $150 + $10 shipping on eBay this summer, had a new battery in it when I purchased it and only had very minimal wear, had to get a used magsafe charger for $15 also. I can't believe how much these MacBooks really depreciate considering the decent performance it still produces depending per model.
Really liked this video. Btw in the future most MacBooks have a feature called Internet Recovery where you can just install macOS on a Mac and you don’t even need a usb drive. I’d give you the shortcut but I keep forgetting it. Very useful if you can never find your USB Drives (which I do all the time lol)
A friendly reply. Internet recovery won’t work with older MacBooks like the a1278 2013 model it was a pain getting a hold of another Mac to make a bootable drive. Anyone trying to internet recovery a MacBook pre 2013 knows internet recovery doesn’t work.
@@GoStormPlaysreally? I’ve only worked with 5 MacBook pros all a1278s this year don’t ask me why lol but man I’ll tell you if internet recovery worked on those I’d give my left nut and maybe right too
I have the 17" 2009 Macbook and have Windows 10 Pro running on it, it runs way faster than my actual windows laptop so i'm happy about that so i can finally replace that windows laptop with this 17" macbook, i'm running Monterey on the MacOS side and it runs great.
It’s a bit frustrating looking for a cheap unibody mbp in Canada in comparison. The cheapest ones are found in the US but then after shipping and then customs/import fees and taxes, it quickly becomes bad for value.
Quick suggestion, try locally. I looked for about 3 months, until about a month ago a listing came up for 2 unibody aluminum macbooks and one 13 inch macbook pro in various conditions. They were disgusting, but I negotiated the price down to 30CAD, and 2 of them worked fine. Patience is key!
I've done this same idea. on ebay i bought a 2012 Macbok Pro for around $95 and just replaced the hard drive with an ssd. it's very usable with linux but i have it dual booted with Debian and MacOS Ventura with opencore legacy boot patcher.
I happen to have a Mid-2012 Macbook Pro, it's so ridiculous slow though that for even general browsing use I find it too unresponsive, not sure what specifically its bottleneck is
Who knew that turning a $20 white screen into a snappy, upgraded MacBook could be this entertaining? It's like watching MacGyver take on technology with a shoestring budget and a lot of determination. This 'MacBook Makeover' should have its own reality show - 'Project Macbook: From Rags to Tech Riches!'
One thing I'd recommend to more tech savvy people is to slap something like Linux Mint on this. It'll get official updates for longer, and probably be lighter than macos.
Overall great video about refurbishing macbook! Also... i need to know how austin did reput the screws that were mixed (i dont wanna say Linused, i'd say...Evansised) for a future potential Behind of scenes video. Also i hope his next future projects, need to use magnetic pad. P.D: i laughed about fixing the hinge, just little pressure and thats all, and ye, ken is totally right. Denki saved Austin the money and gets free shoutout!
Installing those older versions of macOS is insanely difficult. Ive worked for hours and days trying to get versions installed, especially High Sierra. The most reliable method ive discovered is installing to an external 2.5" hdd instead of a usb drive, it works every time now.
i member ive had my mba 2014 stuck on Yosemite for a week cause i thought it would update to El Capitan or even Sierra, but no. Had to get a usb drive with Monterey and i downgraded it to big sur cause monterey was painfully slow on it
I bought a 2012 MacBook Pro a few years ago for cheap that was almost mint threw in an ssd and 16Gigs of ram the thing runs flawless to this day. Perfect daily driver for light - regular use. It was well worth it rather then spending hella dough on a newer one
screen hinges which are wobbly/have play, normally just need to tighten some screws inside the screen lid, or where the hinges meet the bottom section. I've fixed a whole of Dell Latitudes from my school this way.
A few months ago I picked up a mid 2014 MacBook Air,it was on eBay,sold with two working chargers,5 vertical lines In the screen, missing,stripped or not all the way in screws and no history at all and it's still going strong(I used it to watch and comment on this video)I swear its probably the cheapest fully functioning MacBook air in the world
The reason why people sell their macbooks so cheap is because they try to trade it in either in store or online through the trade in program, if they don't see a fully functional MacBook with no scrapes, scratches dings they mark it as 0 dollars and offer to recycle it so graciously for them. Having this price in their mind.. They assume apple wouldn't want to screw over their customers and that must be the value or close to it, so at that point they just try to get anything they can for it. I'm under an NDA or i would tell you how i know this.
Upgraded my late 2013 mbp last night with open core, such an easy process. Also those macs can have their ssd upgraded with a standard nvme drive through the use of an adaptor. You should do a followup for a pc, lower the budget and take a chance to play with some alternative OS
So the question is, how does this compair to a Windows PC with the same budget? I feel like you might be able to walk away with significant better specs from the likes of Dell, HP or Lenovo considering how many tens of thousands of office laptops get recycled. Heck if you dig deep you can find one with a GPU to do light gaming.
Instead of dealing with the headache of creating a boot drive for El Capitan why didn’t you use internet recovery. It’s one of my favorite features of Macs. Even if it is very slow.
I watched the the same videos and I bought a 2012 MacBook Pro 15 inch retina and almost perfect condition for 150 bucks. Just got it up to macOS 14 today and it's running great! Ran it for a few months and found out. I really do enjoy using a Mac and now I'm rocking an M2 13 inch pro. I use both for school and projects.
2011 MacBook Pro, did something similar to what Austin did. Love it, works great! Can’t get the latest Mac OS, stuck on el captain but I’m alright with that. Beats buying a new machine and gives me time to save for a better laptop down the road.
If you see a circle with a line on bootup, it means the computer doesn't support the version of macOS on the HDD because it's too new for the MacBook, and therefore can't boot.
Shipping that very swollen Macbook seems like a VERY BAD idea that could go horribly wrong in transit. That seems like a fire waiting to happen especially with how rough lot of postal companies are with packages. Yikes.
Just last week our IT guy gave me a 14 year old Macbook Pro ( 8 Gigs and 500 GB SSD ) because it just didn't work properly. It only starts up 1 or 2 out of 10 times. And when it does it black screens after putting some load on it. After cleaning and repasting the same issue occured. I found out that 1 of the RAM sticks is at fault. So now I'm going to use OpenCore Patcher to install a newer OS on it. Have to get some screws and rubber feet for the bottom, and a matched kit of 8 Gigs of DDR3. Nice thing for that price.
Managed to get a MacBook Air 2017 for £20 then bought new battery for £20 and a day later brought a 2019 MacBook Pro for £200 £40 repair cost on the Touch Bar and works perfectly :D
That was definitely not a good deal. I got for 95€ a MacBook Pro 15‘ from 2011 with a 128GB SSD, an Quad Core i5 and a new battery. That was a steal of a deal! Then installed macOS Ventura with the opencore legacy tool! It’s almost a fast MacBook now!
I bought an open box MacBook Air M1 256 GB with 8 GB RAM for $200 cash off Facebook Marketplace. It had only one battery charge cycle. The owner had been storing it in a closet and wanted to get into gaming on a Windows laptop so he sold it to me cheaply. It had no issues, nicks, dents, scratches. It came with the original MagSafe power adapter. The only thing I didn't get was the original box. I attached an external SSD drive via USB-C and share it on my wifi network as a media server in my house.
Good find! I look for these locally. I picked up a 2009 macbook pro with a bad keyboard and trackpad for $40 a few months ago. The guy even threw in a wired keyboard and mouse. I used it as a desktop for a while. Unfortunately I did not make videos back then. I still have it though!
ugly over price screw driver but i love open core legacy i did the same thing on a 2014 macbook pro with 16 gb of ram upgraded the ssd and it works great for simple use all for 200 dollars great video !
You have bought WD Green SSD?? That is a piece of crap. It barely survived the warranty period in our machines. And I had to remove all of them and replace them by myself because our company's CEO was a cheapskate a**hole
Where can I get a cheap replacement Macbook Air (non-Type C) MagSafe 2 charger? Amazon and Apple charge $79-$99 for them brand new which is robbery. Ebay isn't looking so hot either with crazy long delivery time even if the seller isn't far from me. Any advice?
I bought awhile back a 2011 MacBook Pro with a white screen. I was afraid that would be a problem for you. My solution was to remove the chip that controls the AMD processor (which gets hot and causes this problem) and let it run the Intel Processor. A video of this maybe still on the internet. Did three laptops like this and quit.... I still have them but can't upgrade the HD. Your method makes sense.
This is not a good idea because the laptop likely won't play 1080p30 videos, your only chance is with Firefox! I recommend getting a 2015+ MacBook - spend a little bit extra! Keyboard replacement is almost impossible on the MacBook because of the 40 plastic locks holding the keyboard into the base - base swaps are your only possible choice
One week ago I bought 2012 MBP in pristine condition (i5, 16GB RAM, 250SSD + another 500HDD in DVD drive bay and ofc DVD drive) for ca 190 USD. Unfortunately SSD was in bad shape (22MB/s write/100MB/s read) so I bought 1TB 870EVO for another 70 USD. Now it works great @ 10.15.7.
very cool idea n loved watching it, an idea for a next vid (unfortunately i have to use these for work) getting an old dell e6440 (i7) and upgrading it as much as you can and then bench mark it against its never version 5340 (also i7)
I just snagged a mid 2014 retina macbook pro for exactly 100 shipped. All it needs is new feet but I already have some from my last repair of my neighbors macbook.
As someone who’s disassembled a lot of these unibody macs, I felt like a proud dad watching Austin working on his
same, i love these older model to upgrade and daily use.
Looks like a cheal fun project as someone who never had a mac before
@@kgoodfarms Me too, and ive got the 2013 in the cupboard. Problem is i'm not paying $35 for a charger just to see if its alive, etc.
@@EmeraldHill-vo1csfind a friend with one to borrow
@@chadhowell1328 No appleheads here.
I MISS these actual videos, not going to lie. haven't really been a fan of all the "Mystery tech videos back-to-back".
As an IT Admin of 26 years, 15 being at an mostly Apple school, I do this all the time with our old teacher laptops. I most recently bought a 2014 MacBook Air for $1 due to non-working condition that someone slapped on it. It was just a bad M.2 and battery, took a M.2 from a parts machine slated for recycling. I then upgraded the ram to 8GB, replaced the bad battery with a new old stock OEM battery from eBay with 2 cycles. I installed MacOS Ventura using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. It works great for vacation trips, watching "legally Downloaded" movies, Netflix etc. Works great for downloading, storing and editing all of our vacation pictures and short videos. I also take it to my in-laws for entertainment purposes because they live in the sticks with basically no internet. I've sold a few this way too, great easy money. I even made more off one I painted black due to it was a complete tear-down to repair anyway. So Thanks Austin for doing a vidoe to show old hardware still has some life in it, just make sure to install all security patches. Then install linux when it gets outdated. Ubuntu works great on these old MacBooks!
macbook airs have soldered ram so can't be upgraded.
@@drbass9677 So what you point and how does your comment apply to mine?
@@t3chninja_official you said you upgraded the ram in your 2014 air to 8gb. I was just stating that they’re non upgradable.
@@drbass9677Maybe they desoldered the ram and memory controller and swapped them with another one that they found on another matching logic board and resoldered all just for 4gb more of ram 😃
/s
Sure bud after watching this videos everyone else did it too Austin is the only one that can do it stop copying
I did the same to an a1278. This mac was going to the bin. I replace keyboard, battery, Harddisk, speakers and wifi card, put on 8gb of ram, a SSD, a bought a hd caddy to replace the broken CD drive, and now sports 2 SSDs. Perfectly usable and lots of fun rebuilding uit
What size was the hdd caddy you used? 9mm 9.5 or 12.7mm?
@@jaconortje5009 9.5mm, just checked against the Amazon order
Had the same issue with my MacBook, took me multiple hours to install MacOS on that thing... Linux and Windows installed within minutes. Its crazy how apple doesn't want you to use their OS on their machines ^^
They want you to use their latest OS versions on their latest Macs, so they make it as hard as possible.
Forced obsolescence is the MAC way.
Years of use out of it- AUSTIN EVANS. And it's all thanks to the OCLP- Open Core Project and Team which help with older Mac's being usable still now till the future. Without the OCLP and the team dedicated to providing this for so many different models of older Mac's , their saving people lots of money and upgrading older Mac's.
Hm.....
Used to eBay & craigslist laptops like this all the time as a side hustle back in like 08. Macs were always my favorite as could make the best return for my efforts. Glad to see that kind of recycling still being done
Doing the same as a side hustle to get me extra spending cash through college, profit is decent turnover is long I avoid eBay because of there large fees but eBay could potentially increase volume.
Back in 08, I’d assume you repaired a lot of g3 and g4 iBooks. Probably PowerBooks too. Maybe a few 06-07 intel MacBooks
A fun and interesting video showing how to bring new life to old devices. But missing the important point that this cannot be done with modern MacBooks: no user upgradable ram; no user upgradable storage; IF you can find parts they are likely serialized and require software pairing. It is very sad to see neat (and useful) projects like this will be impossible in the future.
Tim Cook is laughing at you, stupid consumer!
As an Apple Certified Pro who has built and repaired many desktops and laptops in the past, it is always a joy watch videos such as this.
I got lucky with a i7 16gb macbook pro from 2017, payed 230€ for it and the guy said it just turned off. Reset and reinstalled the os and cleaned the super dusty fan and it works like a charm and its even in like new condition. So happy for my first macbook. The 2500x1600 display is still soo good.
It is absolutely ridiculous how hard apple makes it to create bootable media for older macs.
Never so early, but here we are. Although it's not simple, I believe the effort and money required to repair a MacBook are well worth it.❤️
R8
I bought one for 25, upgraded the battery for 30 and the ssd for 15. Sold it for 200. I love that model.
MacBook sucks
I love how repairable older Mac models were compared to newer ones. It's sad Apple doesn't support these Macs with new OS versions. I'm using a Macbook Pro 2012 that still works great (read 4k video editing on fcpx using proxies) but stuck with Catalina. No security updates either.
Open core legacy patcher is the answer to your struggles my friend
I was happy to sell my 2012 mbp last year. That thing was a heat magnet. It was always running hot.
Used my upgraded 2012 Macbook Pro for close to a decade before upgrading to the M1 Air, it's really incredible how well these machines have aged
I have the same exact MacBook Pro and just updated to Sonoma thanks to this video, thanks Austin. It's been stuck on El Capitan since 2015.
i love these revamp old tech type of videos, keep it going
I was given a mid 2009 MacBook Pro 15", 8 Gb ram. It needed a cleaning, a battery and I put in a 500GB Samsung 870 EVO with Catalina. I spent $100 CDN, so mine was cheaper.
It's my first Mac so it's perfect for light office work when I need to spend more time in the office.
Over here in the uk a short while ago I purchased a early 2015 MacBook Pro with delamination and battery service error (bloated battery just needed replacing) I paid the equivilant of $80 for the MacBook and $36 for a 3rd party battery. Yes it would of been $16 over your budget but it would of been a much better option especially as it used M.2 SSD
Alright I’m convinced. I have a 2012 15” pro that’s been sitting in my closet for years. If I remember right it was a mid tier one with an external GPU, and an i7. I need to do this and get it running again.
macOS Sonoma will run like a dream on that with an SSD.
@@EvilTurkeySlices that does it. I’m ordering an SSD. Thanks for the tips
I just got an i5 2012 and upgraded the ram to 16 (yes 2012 can do 16) and ssd. mine is running seqouia no problem. in fact it's so good that now it's my daily laptop. after upgrades it cost me 100usd. just make sure to repaste the cpu
I just built a 1060 desktop for under $100, running great now with an ssd upgrade!
This is much faster and more usable than that MacBook that has a screen size of a tablet. He should have built what you have built or bought a tablet instead
This is the end of the old Austin Evan’s profile picture 😢
I’ve taken many Mackbook out of the recycling bin, and honestly even the ones that are old. Have always turned out amazing all things considering. It’s amazing how long they last.
This would be cool to light to moderate music production and if you want stability during live gigs to use some virtual instruments
Tell me more
mid 2012 MBP are still fantastic you can use Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) to even install the latest macOS 14 Sonoma, they also run Linux super well, they can be had super cheap and honestly I think they are a better buy than some newer end low end chrombook/windows computer that would have nasty build quality and have a very super low end modern CPU, I personally have a Mid 2012 13" i7 2.9ghz with 16GB RAM & 500gb SSD and I use it with Linux mostly and it performs perfect for what I need.
Mint!
I've refurbished my wife's MacBook Air from 2010 with a new battery and thermal paste + cleaning, but I was not able to get OpenCore Legacy running .. I've tried and repeated this process several times until I gave up.
Now it runs the latest Ubuntu with a fully MacOS Monterey skin (booting screen too) and my lovely wife thinks it is still Mac.
The system is stable and she can use the latest software (so she needs just web browsing and mail...)
Am I cheating her?
I had a 2011 MacBook Pro from new. Lasted me to 2020 (maybe 2021) till the logic board just died one day. I did the 16gb ram upgrade, new battery, ssd and replaced the disc drive with the original hdd. If it wasn’t for the logic board dying I think it would still be with us to this day! These laptops were the best!
Those are notorius with the gpu failures.
couldn't you replace the motherboard with another salvaged laptOP?
@@Almarillion
I owned a used 2012 Unibody MacBook and it for the years I used it it was a great little computer, I ended up replacing it for an M1 Pro 16 inch but for the 4 years I did use my unibody, it was a great wee machine.
I did all these upgrades to my unibody before I sold it and my gosh it’s such a runner, wish I did them sooner rather than paying a lot of money for my M1 machine, probably would still be using it today butttttt, idk I wanted a new computer 😂
i feel like the disk error pops up when the user initially installed open core and patched the machine upto macos 13.3 Ventura so the disc pops up when it tries to boot of the macos 13 which it cant unless boots with open core efi partition to gain access to Ventura. a simple option key on boot would select the opencore partition and boot from the macos 13
Shame you needed a newer MacBook at times to restore the old one. I think anyone trying to do this won't have new hardware lying around to support themselves.
I still have my old MacBook Pro from 2012. I don't use it anymore, but it still works perfectly fine
I love these older unibodies, they run rings around the reliability of the newer ones,
***Though i do own an A1398***
I think you can do this again pretty easily with a 2013. Personally bought one for cheap a few months back as the previous owner thought it would need a new screen. Turns out it was apples anti glare layer coming off and it was easy enough to remove completely. Installed open core and currently running Ventura without much of an issue.
i just bought a 2017 MacBook Air '13 1.8GHz core i5 with 8GB of ram and 128GB of SSD used for $150 + $10 shipping on eBay this summer, had a new battery in it when I purchased it and only had very minimal wear, had to get a used magsafe charger for $15 also. I can't believe how much these MacBooks really depreciate considering the decent performance it still produces depending per model.
Sounds like you've got a good media center there. Dust off the classic iPod and you're set to rock it retro.
Really liked this video. Btw in the future most MacBooks have a feature called Internet Recovery where you can just install macOS on a Mac and you don’t even need a usb drive. I’d give you the shortcut but I keep forgetting it. Very useful if you can never find your USB Drives (which I do all the time lol)
A friendly reply. Internet recovery won’t work with older MacBooks like the a1278 2013 model it was a pain getting a hold of another Mac to make a bootable drive. Anyone trying to internet recovery a MacBook pre 2013 knows internet recovery doesn’t work.
@@SuperDuperVision I used it on a Mid 2012 just recently
@@SuperDuperVision and a 2010 iMac
@@GoStormPlaysreally? I’ve only worked with 5 MacBook pros all a1278s this year don’t ask me why lol but man I’ll tell you if internet recovery worked on those I’d give my left nut and maybe right too
@@GoStormPlayscurrently doing the monetary update on one of them
Austin I love watching you and you are my inspiration. People use to make fun of me for being a nerd. Your awesome
You should put the light Windows 10 version on that MacBook and see if it's even possible to get other operating systems to run on a older MacBook
I have the 17" 2009 Macbook and have Windows 10 Pro running on it, it runs way faster than my actual windows laptop so i'm happy about that so i can finally replace that windows laptop with this 17" macbook, i'm running Monterey on the MacOS side and it runs great.
Repaired a 2012 mac mini earlier this year to use for school and it still does the job!
Great video, could be a series with increasing budgets.
It’s a bit frustrating looking for a cheap unibody mbp in Canada in comparison. The cheapest ones are found in the US but then after shipping and then customs/import fees and taxes, it quickly becomes bad for value.
Havent you got a u.s. friend to send you one for your bthday?
Quick suggestion, try locally. I looked for about 3 months, until about a month ago a listing came up for 2 unibody aluminum macbooks and one 13 inch macbook pro in various conditions. They were disgusting, but I negotiated the price down to 30CAD, and 2 of them worked fine. Patience is key!
I love those Macs that they had the optical drive! Pure nostalgia!
Thanks Austin, now all the used Macbooks on eBay are gonna go way up in price!! 🙂
I've done this same idea. on ebay i bought a 2012 Macbok Pro for around $95 and just replaced the hard drive with an ssd. it's very usable with linux but i have it dual booted with Debian and MacOS Ventura with opencore legacy boot patcher.
I happen to have a Mid-2012 Macbook Pro, it's so ridiculous slow though that for even general browsing use I find it too unresponsive, not sure what specifically its bottleneck is
I have a 2020 M1 and I absolutely love it. For some tasks it dumps on my 18 core 3070 PC
the video was amazing, it just felt empty without ken's and matt's commentary, overall the video was amazing and brilliant
Always love seeing Austin on Matt's RUclips channel
Austin: I bought this laptop for $20
Also Austin: this laptop isn’t perfect. I’m concerned.
I cannot wait for touch bar MacBooks to be this cheap. I want one soooooo badly, but not for 700 bucks badly.
Who knew that turning a $20 white screen into a snappy, upgraded MacBook could be this entertaining? It's like watching MacGyver take on technology with a shoestring budget and a lot of determination. This 'MacBook Makeover' should have its own reality show - 'Project Macbook: From Rags to Tech Riches!'
One thing I'd recommend to more tech savvy people is to slap something like Linux Mint on this. It'll get official updates for longer, and probably be lighter than macos.
This is real content Austin . Keep it up!
Overall great video about refurbishing macbook! Also... i need to know how austin did reput the screws that were mixed (i dont wanna say Linused, i'd say...Evansised) for a future potential Behind of scenes video. Also i hope his next future projects, need to use magnetic pad.
P.D: i laughed about fixing the hinge, just little pressure and thats all, and ye, ken is totally right. Denki saved Austin the money and gets free shoutout!
Installing those older versions of macOS is insanely difficult. Ive worked for hours and days trying to get versions installed, especially High Sierra. The most reliable method ive discovered is installing to an external 2.5" hdd instead of a usb drive, it works every time now.
i member ive had my mba 2014 stuck on Yosemite for a week cause i thought it would update to El Capitan or even Sierra, but no. Had to get a usb drive with Monterey and i downgraded it to big sur cause monterey was painfully slow on it
You didn't need to make a usb installer you can just use internet recovery even all the way back to el capitan.
I bought a 2012 MacBook Pro a few years ago for cheap that was almost mint threw in an ssd and 16Gigs of ram the thing runs flawless to this day. Perfect daily driver for light - regular use. It was well worth it rather then spending hella dough on a newer one
screen hinges which are wobbly/have play, normally just need to tighten some screws inside the screen lid, or where the hinges meet the bottom section.
I've fixed a whole of Dell Latitudes from my school this way.
U may have already done this but I would love to see u compare what u could do for 100$ with a Windows laptop see which is better ?
Bro u should do the same challenge with only 50 bucks
A few months ago I picked up a mid 2014 MacBook Air,it was on eBay,sold with two working chargers,5 vertical lines In the screen, missing,stripped or not all the way in screws and no history at all and it's still going strong(I used it to watch and comment on this video)I swear its probably the cheapest fully functioning MacBook air in the world
The reason why people sell their macbooks so cheap is because they try to trade it in either in store or online through the trade in program, if they don't see a fully functional MacBook with no scrapes, scratches dings they mark it as 0 dollars and offer to recycle it so graciously for them. Having this price in their mind.. They assume apple wouldn't want to screw over their customers and that must be the value or close to it, so at that point they just try to get anything they can for it. I'm under an NDA or i would tell you how i know this.
Upgraded my late 2013 mbp last night with open core, such an easy process. Also those macs can have their ssd upgraded with a standard nvme drive through the use of an adaptor.
You should do a followup for a pc, lower the budget and take a chance to play with some alternative OS
So the question is, how does this compair to a Windows PC with the same budget?
I feel like you might be able to walk away with significant better specs from the likes of Dell, HP or Lenovo considering how many tens of thousands of office laptops get recycled. Heck if you dig deep you can find one with a GPU to do light gaming.
Guessing the white screen has to do with that one side of the hinge being jacked up and being all crunchy.
You mentioned the shipping cost of the mac. So did the SSD, RAM and Battery have free shipping?
Instead of dealing with the headache of creating a boot drive for El Capitan why didn’t you use internet recovery. It’s one of my favorite features of Macs. Even if it is very slow.
I watched the the same videos and I bought a 2012 MacBook Pro 15 inch retina and almost perfect condition for 150 bucks. Just got it up to macOS 14 today and it's running great! Ran it for a few months and found out. I really do enjoy using a Mac and now I'm rocking an M2 13 inch pro. I use both for school and projects.
Got a 77 dollar 2014 Mac mini and 500ssd and it’s working on a 50inch TV. It’s working like a charm 😊
2011 MacBook Pro, did something similar to what Austin did. Love it, works great! Can’t get the latest Mac OS, stuck on el captain but I’m alright with that. Beats buying a new machine and gives me time to save for a better laptop down the road.
this was a cool idea, now do it with a Thinkpad and compare them
If you see a circle with a line on bootup, it means the computer doesn't support the version of macOS on the HDD because it's too new for the MacBook, and therefore can't boot.
Shipping that very swollen Macbook seems like a VERY BAD idea that could go horribly wrong in transit. That seems like a fire waiting to happen especially with how rough lot of postal companies are with packages. Yikes.
Just last week our IT guy gave me a 14 year old Macbook Pro ( 8 Gigs and 500 GB SSD ) because it just didn't work properly. It only starts up 1 or 2 out of 10 times. And when it does it black screens after putting some load on it. After cleaning and repasting the same issue occured. I found out that 1 of the RAM sticks is at fault. So now I'm going to use OpenCore Patcher to install a newer OS on it. Have to get some screws and rubber feet for the bottom, and a matched kit of 8 Gigs of DDR3. Nice thing for that price.
I am not an Apple Stan but seeing the optical drive on that mac made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
I like watching these more than the “building a pc” videos
Managed to get a MacBook Air 2017 for £20 then bought new battery for £20 and a day later brought a 2019 MacBook Pro for £200 £40 repair cost on the Touch Bar and works perfectly :D
I wanna do something like this but I don't have a Mac in case of having to reflash the software version
That was definitely not a good deal.
I got for 95€ a MacBook Pro 15‘ from 2011 with a 128GB SSD, an Quad Core i5 and a new battery. That was a steal of a deal!
Then installed macOS Ventura with the opencore legacy tool! It’s almost a fast MacBook now!
I bought an open box MacBook Air M1 256 GB with 8 GB RAM for $200 cash off Facebook Marketplace. It had only one battery charge cycle. The owner had been storing it in a closet and wanted to get into gaming on a Windows laptop so he sold it to me cheaply. It had no issues, nicks, dents, scratches. It came with the original MagSafe power adapter. The only thing I didn't get was the original box. I attached an external SSD drive via USB-C and share it on my wifi network as a media server in my house.
A 8-10 year old ThinkPad would probably cost the same and be about 2-3x faster than this MacBook.
I recently bought one 2015 MacBook Air on just 20 dollars for parts and it only needed a cleaning on the charging port and install a new OS
Good funny and informational at the same time might do the same for my old mac
Good find! I look for these locally. I picked up a 2009 macbook pro with a bad keyboard and trackpad for $40 a few months ago. The guy even threw in a wired keyboard and mouse. I used it as a desktop for a while.
Unfortunately I did not make videos back then. I still have it though!
ugly over price screw driver but i love open core legacy i did the same thing on a 2014 macbook pro with 16 gb of ram upgraded the ssd and it works great for simple use all for 200 dollars great video !
the issue is your hard drive cable, it fails on those macs, had the same thing happen. you will eventually have it fail on the SSD anyway.
I’m surprised it was not iCloud locked.
You have bought WD Green SSD?? That is a piece of crap. It barely survived the warranty period in our machines. And I had to remove all of them and replace them by myself because our company's CEO was a cheapskate a**hole
Where can I get a cheap replacement Macbook Air (non-Type C) MagSafe 2 charger? Amazon and Apple charge $79-$99 for them brand new which is robbery. Ebay isn't looking so hot either with crazy long delivery time even if the seller isn't far from me. Any advice?
I bought a 2015 i7 MacBook Air for 230 bucks ALL IN last year. Been a great laptop for everyday use.
I bought awhile back a 2011 MacBook Pro with a white screen. I was afraid that would be a problem for you. My solution was to remove the chip that controls the AMD processor (which gets hot and causes this problem) and let it run the Intel Processor. A video of this maybe still on the internet. Did three laptops like this and quit.... I still have them but can't upgrade the HD. Your method makes sense.
This is not a good idea because the laptop likely won't play 1080p30 videos, your only chance is with Firefox! I recommend getting a 2015+ MacBook - spend a little bit extra! Keyboard replacement is almost impossible on the MacBook because of the 40 plastic locks holding the keyboard into the base - base swaps are your only possible choice
One week ago I bought 2012 MBP in pristine condition (i5, 16GB RAM, 250SSD + another 500HDD in DVD drive bay and ofc DVD drive) for ca 190 USD. Unfortunately SSD was in bad shape (22MB/s write/100MB/s read) so I bought 1TB 870EVO for another 70 USD. Now it works great @ 10.15.7.
“Tempering your expectations is important” proceeds to complain about it
Missed opportunity to install linux. Older intel Macs are amazing with something like Debian or Lubuntu on them.
very cool idea n loved watching it, an idea for a next vid (unfortunately i have to use these for work) getting an old dell e6440 (i7) and upgrading it as much as you can and then bench mark it against its never version 5340 (also i7)
I wouldn't swap an OEM apple battery with 70% health for a cheap eBay battery
I just snagged a mid 2014 retina macbook pro for exactly 100 shipped. All it needs is new feet but I already have some from my last repair of my neighbors macbook.
Did the same on mine a year ago still running like new .
2:25 that’s what she said
old macbook, minecraft, runescape. just missing a mention of eucalyptus oil