Macbook Air

[albion]

Well, even a 2Ghz Core Duo is similar and has more power than many a new cheap laptop available out there.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Nope it is a 2.0ghz Core2Duo it came with 1gb of ram and it will only take 2gb of ram maximum and it was manufactured in 2006.

The 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook officially only supports 2GB, but you can actually put in 4GB and get 3GB usable RAM.

Apple stopped supporting the machine I have quite a few years ago now when it wasn't that old

Apple is very good about supporting older machines. As I say, as of today you can still put the very latest OS on machines up to seven years old. You can still be unlucky, and buy just before a significant processor bump (such as the jump from 32- to 64-bit), and it may be that's what you managed (I'd need to check dates to be sure).

But being able to update to the very latest OS is really just icing on the cake: I know several people who are still very happily using really old Macs with old versions of OS X as their daily drivers.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 3375359, member: 259"]I doubt it, but which is the exact model?[/QUOTE]

It is the very first black macbook with a core2duo dont know the model number as it is buried on the loft.

The 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook officially only supports 2GB, but you can actually put in 4GB and get 3GB usable RAM.

Exactly so it doesn't take 4gb of ram, back when it was new ram was very expensive not much point dumping the ram in it to gain an extra 1gb.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 3375378, member: 259"]You're in luck then, the first Core 2 Duo MacBook takes 4GB RAM and it shows up as 4GB too. It's well worth doing as it makes it a very useable laptop even now, It runs Windows 7 as well.

I'll take it off your hands for £50 [/QUOTE]

How has 3gb usable suddenly turned into 4gb ?

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 3375422, member: 259"]No, the 4GB usable is 4GB usable. It's the machine my wife still uses.[/QUOTE]

Well this is what I have found:

Apple officially supports 2 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been "unofficially" able to upgrade it to 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (it can hold 4 GB but cannot fully utilize the memory beyond 3 GB due to the same limitation that impacts the "Late 2006" MacBook Pro line).

and I am not going to go and get a load of ram for a 8 year old computer to find out but I tend to believe this to probably be the case, either way it wouldn't have been much help back when I bought it considering 1gb of ram was nearly £60 from crutial unless you bought it from apple then it was over £100.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

[QUOTE 3375452, member: 259"]It's your choice, but keeping it in the attic will probably be less cost effective.[/QUOTE]

The reason I keep it because sometime it comes in handy for reading the odd apple hard drive when I need to.

 

[GrasB]

Well this is what I have found:

Apple officially supports 2 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been "unofficially" able to upgrade it to 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (it can hold 4 GB but cannot fully utilize the memory beyond 3 GB due to the same limitation that impacts the "Late 2006" MacBook Pro line).

and I am not going to go and get a load of ram for a 8 year old computer to find out but I tend to believe this to probably be the case, either way it wouldn't have been much help back when I bought it considering 1gb of ram was nearly £60 from crutial unless you bought it from apple then it was over £100.

It depends what version of the kernel your machine runs. If it has to use a 32bit kernel then you're stuck with somewhere between 3.25 & 3.75GB ram. If it runs a 64bit kernel you get all 4GB. Older OSs were 32bit by default & due to Apple not providing certain features in the kernel they were stuck without the software to fully access the full compliment 4GB ram.

 

[GrasB]

The latest load of hardware updates have introduced a nasty no-upgrade trend in apple laptops. Also they're not built nearly as well as they used to be. At work the number of laptop returns, & it is returns now because everything is soldered onto the motherboard, in the last 18-24 months of machines under 2 years old has really increased noticeably .

 

[phil_hg_uk]

The latest load of hardware updates have introduced a nasty no-upgrade trend in apple laptops. Also they're not built nearly as well as they used to be. At work the number of laptop returns, & it is returns now because everything is soldered onto the motherboard, in the last 18-24 months of machines under 2 years old has really increased noticeably .

Seems to be the way things are going the thinner they get the more unrepairable they become. I have noticed a trend with smart phones to build in the batteries so they become part of the phones chassis and make the phones cheaper to make. My Moto G has a built in battery which in a £125 phone so I couldn't care less if it breaks I will just get another one, but when you are taking about paying hundreds or even over a £1000 for hardware that you cant upgrade or repair

I have an Acer laptop on my bench at the moment which someone chucked a cup of coffee over, it came apart no problem because it is screwed together and not glued together. After a week of drying out the only part that isnt working is the keyboard and they are as cheap as chip these days so once I get one of those it is fixed better than having to spend a few hundred quid on a new laptop

 

[mustang1]

I used to build my own PCs until I got a Macbook in 2011. Never again will I build a PC or entertain Windows.

+1 (though I got mine in 2008). I would still like to build another PC though.

 

[mustang1]

Ive had macs since the blue transparent iMac, several powerbooks and i now have ipads and a 27" imac. For personal use i wouldn't entertain any other. I have to use windows for work, the nice thing for me about using a different platform at home is the separation from work/home if that makes sense? low maintenance too, having said that a correctly administered and looked after windows computer shouldn't give any grief but who want to keep on top of computer maintenance?

What he said.

 

[vernon]

[QUOTE 3374460, member: 259"]Why don't you just update the OS?[/QUOTE]

I did and regretted it. OS X 10.6.8 to Yosemite has resulted in a plethora of library fix warnings requiring my user password to implement, a slowed down computer, email no longer working and refusing to communicated with POP and SMTP, slower to boot up, Microsoft Office being kicked into touch as it no longer works, being caught between demands for Java V6 and Java V7 and trying to resolve whether or not they can operate side by side.

I've not really found any improved functionality with Yosemite.

Having said that when I do buy another computer it will be a Mac. The OS update has been the only problem that I have had with the Mac in four years of ownership.

 

[marknotgeorge]

I remember Microsoft saying if it will run Windows 7 it'll run Windows 8. I've found that to be more or less true.

And if it'll run Windows 8, it'll run Windows 10.

 

[CopperBrompton]

[QUOTE 3375422, member: 259"]
It shows up as 4GB on the Apple System Profiler[/QUOTE]
It will do, because System Profiler only looks at hardware, ie. what is physically installed. If you look instead in Activity Monitor, you'll see what is actually addressable. It's still worth doing, though.

 

[GrasB]

I did and regretted it. OS X 10.6.8 to Yosemite has resulted in a plethora of library fix warnings requiring my user password to implement, a slowed down computer, email no longer working and refusing to communicated with POP and SMTP, slower to boot up, Microsoft Office being kicked into touch as it no longer works, being caught between demands for Java V6 and Java V7 and trying to resolve whether or not they can operate side by side.

I've not really found any improved functionality with Yosemite.

Having said that when I do buy another computer it will be a Mac. The OS update has been the only problem that I have had with the Mac in four years of ownership.

Rule of thumb is go up one OS revision at a a time, do that and I've never had any problems with about 35 machines doing this. However the two machines jumping from 10.6 to 10.9 where a total nightmares & I ended up doing clean installs to it working properly again.