Refurbishing an old MacBook

**Xantan** · 08-29-2020, 16:17

Gentlemen & ladies,

I'm currently in the process of acquiring some old generation MacBook Pros - specifically 2006 - 2007. I'm particularly interested in these because they have a very good ergonomical keyboard, they're relatively light and you can use them for work quite well. I found 2 of them, in a bundle, in rather bad shape on a local ebay-type selling website which I purchased for about 60 USD.

My issue is with the refurbishing them - does anyone have any experience with refurbishing old MacBooks? I looked up a video and I got some basic ideas on how to refurbish it but I clearly don't know what to look out for.

One of them has a faulty contact with the display, so the display doesn't work. Both of them are missing HDDs so I want to know if an SSD would work on them?

Dual Core processors / 4 GB RAM each.

For some info:

Does anyone have experience refurbishing laptops in general?

**Steve_12** · 09-15-2020, 12:26

One of the most common causes of failure can be a breakage of the data transmission loop. This loop is relatively inexpensive and can be replaced on its own if you have the necessary tools, but the user always takes risks when performing such work at home.

Another cause of failure may be a failure of the Display Decoder, which is located in the housing of the display module. This part cannot be replaced separately from the Display Module, and therefore this malfunction requires a complete replacement of the matrix.

**edyzmedieval** · 09-15-2020, 19:30

Hey Steve,

Welcome to the Org!

So with regards to the display module, you have to completely buy a new one? (a refurbished one at least, I doubt someone will find new parts for a laptop that's 13-14 years old)

**Steve_12** · 09-16-2020, 08:58

Thank you for the greeting. Sometimes you can find a matrix with an adapter separately on sale - there are owners of a laptop that failed to disassemble and sell it in pieces.

**edyzmedieval** · 09-17-2020, 19:02

Are they readily available or do they have to be searched on specialised repair stores?

**Steve_12** · 09-21-2020, 11:14

It is necessary to search on specialized forums devoted to portable electronics. Usually there is always a section for selling equipment components.

**flisterseven** · 02-11-2021, 11:16

Back up the data on your MacBook. ...
Take an inventory of malfunctioning and missing parts and order replacements. ...
Replace malfunctioning and missing parts with the new parts. ...
Restore the operating system using your OS X Install discs.
Wipe down the case, keyboard and screen.

**Xantan** · 02-21-2021, 23:33

Alright so I sent the Macbook over to the service - still waiting on some parts, but because it's such an old computer, the newer Mac OSX versions do not work on it so it needs to be adapted to the older ones.

This in itself is another problem - I need to find an older spare part HDD and find a compatible Mac OS version to go with it.

(I'm refurbishing this because of the excellent keyboard on old Macs, great for long work typing)

**Xantan** · 03-11-2021, 17:20

Service has been finalised - refurbished the MacBook, got a new (second-hand) display, installed a brand new 120GB SSD into it and installed Mac OS Capitan.

Works well, remarkably so even - a bit slow in some areas, and super modern websites don't run well at all, but for writing it's excellent.