Question Old MacBook Pro 15 A1286

Denly

Golden Member
May 14, 2011
1,433
229
106
Ok, I know NOTHING about Mac O/S. Company has a couple of them with i7/8GB/6750M to junk, they're not charging but will turn on. Is there anything I can do with them? Maybe like learning Mac O/S? Linux?

If I replace it with SSD how do I find O/S X disk for reinstall?

Worth buying a battery? Or it likely be charging module?
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
11,904
2,851
136
Most likely it's just the battery. You can get a cheap one on Amazon but they don't work very well.

Sometimes I like older systems but this might be just a bit too old (the Retina 15" MacBook Pro debuted in 2012, which seems like a reasonable cut off). However, the tech specs aren't half bad. This model is the last of the prior Unibody design that is fairly chunky, and dates back to 2009.

Here are my thoughts on what to do with old MacBooks that are unsupported:

 

Goerge_IT

Junior Member
Sep 11, 2024
3
0
6
8GB of RAM is really not enough in 2024. With how demanding modern software and multitasking have become, you’ll quickly run into performance issues. Upgrading to at least 16GB makes a noticeable difference!