Hey computer nerds, help me out

Dan Gleesak

Dan Gleesak

Well-known member
So I found an old MacBook Pro in the trash the other day and surprisingly it still works!

It looks like the person wiped it before tossing it so I had to load an OS but after that bitch fired right up.

Unfortunately this is the first apple computer I have used since like 2002 lol. I was researching newer operating systems and there seems to be about a billion of them, and what’s with all the animal names? It loaded Mountain Lion when I booted it up, which is arguably one of the best animals, but it sounds pretty outdated for computers.

Is it worth trying to update this thing? Can I even? My hope is to load a butt simple DAW to record a track here and there and that’s about it. Are there any available that run on older systems?

The stuff I know about it is
OS X 10.8.5
2.5 ghz intel core i5
2 separate 4 gig ddr3 memory slots
It’s silver

Thanks everyone for any input!
 
I find that the best thing to do with any Apple product to soak it in gasoline for a couple of hours, then throw lit matches at it until it is engulfed in hot flames. After it's done burning smash the remains with a hammer, then place into the trash for disposal.
:p;):LOL:🤪
 
Crazy, I just threw away a Mac with those same specs. It was full of snuff films that I had lost interest in.
Anyways, there's probably a reason it was trashed. I would look into swapping the 4gb sticks for 8(likely ddr3l so-dimm @1333 or 1600), replace the cpu's tim (thermal paste under the heatsink) and slap a 2.5" ssd . Garage band, audacity, most should be okay to run. I would imagine the CPU is a 2nd-4th gen dual core w/hyperthreading, so it's good enough but may take issue to power through a lot of plugins.
 
Unacceptablenorm said:
I find that the best thing to do with any Apple product to soak it in gasoline for a couple of hours, then throw lit matches at it until it is engulfed in hot flames. After it's done burning smash the remains with a hammer, then place into the trash for disposal.
:p;):LOL:🤪
Click to expand...

Tannerite is much more fun, and gives a special sense of accomplishment unmatched by just about anything else.
 
Unacceptablenorm said:
I find that the best thing to do with any Apple product to soak it in gasoline for a couple of hours, then throw lit matches at it until it is engulfed in hot flames. After it's done burning smash the remains with a hammer, then place into the trash for disposal.
:p;):LOL:🤪
Click to expand...
That’s what it’s looking like. It’s too old to load any webpages besides yahoo.com lol

Maybe I can search some gear reviews on Alta Vista? Maybe my old angelfire page is still around!
 
311splawndude said:
You've got a ton of nice gear. =You can afford a new, higher end laptop.

Not really helpful? OK. Sorry.
Click to expand...

I have a decent laptop that I got to use with my kemper, but that is really all I use it for. The plan was to put some recording software on that, but the thought of having a computer just for recording is nice, especially if it’s free.

Most of my gear are parts guitars or cheap shit I upgraded. unfortunately I don’t know a damn thing about computers so upgrading one is a total mystery to me.
 
Aynirar27 said:
I have a decent laptop that I got to use with my kemper, but that is really all I use it for. The plan was to put some recording software on that, but the thought of having a computer just for recording is nice, especially if it’s free.

Most of my gear are parts guitars or cheap shit I upgraded. unfortunately I don’t know a damn thing about computers so upgrading one is a total mystery to me.
Click to expand...
All the more reason to purchase a second, new computer.
 
See if you can install OS 10.13.6 High Sierra.

That should get you to a reasonable place IMHO; it's all I'm still running.

The OS that followed this one (Mojave) requires a Metal-capable graphics card so I'm guessing it won't work.
 
Monkey Man said:
See if you can install OS 10.13.6 High Sierra.

That should get you to a reasonable place IMHO; it's all I'm still running.

The OS that followed this one (Mojave) requires a Metal-capable graphics card so I'm guessing it won't work.
Click to expand...
Right on, thanks man. I think I read somewhere that if I do El Capitan first, then I can get to High Sierra from there.

I just hope the captain has warm hands
 
JackBootedThug said:
wish I knew more about this stuff. reading the above posts is gibberish kinda.
Click to expand...
It mostly is to me as well. I’m about out of patience so I’m thinking the laptop will return to the trash pretty soon. I can’t get any email apps to work or websites so I’m running out of ways to download attempts at updates.

I may just let my girls knock around in it
 
Aynirar27 said:
It mostly is to me as well. I’m about out of patience so I’m thinking the laptop will return to the trash pretty soon. I can’t get any email apps to work or websites so I’m running out of ways to download attempts at updates.
Click to expand...
See how you go with 10.13.6 High Sierra Dan.

I've been stuck on it since it was current 'cause I'm on an old Mac cheese grater.

No issues. It's on my 2011 laptop and 2012 cheese grater and is all I use.
 
Monkey Man said:
See how you go with 10.13.6 High Sierra Dan.

I've been stuck on it since it was current 'cause I'm on an old Mac cheese grater.

No issues. It's on my 2011 laptop and 2012 cheese grater and is all I use.
Click to expand...
I’m trying to figure out a way to download the OS.
I can’t open any apple sites and I can’t get any emails to load either.
I tried saving the link you gave me to a thumb drive from my windows laptop but when I put it in the Mac it gives me some “corrupted image” error or something like that.

I can get the App Store to open but according to that I am up to date
 
Yeah, you want to bypass the App Store altogether. I've actually never used it, not even once.

Make sure you format that thumb drive to FAT32 or ExFAT (I think that's what it's called) format so the Mac can read it.

FAT32's probably the safest 'cause the Mac's OS might be older than the 'newer" ExFAT format.
 
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