New to Macbook.. help me..

[Teljemo]

First of all.
What is this?



I got this old puter from my brother in law and my plan is to use it for video editing and photoshop.
But I want it to be clean and new before i fill it with my stuff...

Tried to restart it and pressing command-R
Nothing happend.
I dont have any CD or anything! do I need that?

What do I do??

[denelec]

The operating system is more than 4 years old.
You should be able to update it to 10.9.5 for free via the Appstore.

[ivan747]

My biggest advice would be getting 4GB of RAM or at leat 8GB. Confirm how much memory this MacBook will take, what generation it is, etc. As far as I know, if you want to restore 10.6, you need the restoration DVD. MAYBE you can restore it if there is a restore image in your hard disk. Press the Option (alt) key while turning on the mac and a menu should appear. It lets you choose from where you want the computer to boot (load its software). If you have a restore image on your hard disk you should see something like this:



If there is a "Recovery HD" you can do a clean reinstall of OSX. If you don't have it, you will need a disk to restore the OS.

For the restore disc:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2101301/advice-from-an-apple-tech-how-to-get-old-mac-os-x-install-discs.html
Of course, you could also pirate them, but I haven't done this 

From a comment:

Apple still sells the 10.6 retail install package at the online Apple Store for $20 (search for Snow Leopard), as apparently it's required to install 10.9 on older Macs. Is there a way to do a clean install of 10.9? I haven't tried it yet, still on 10.6 myself.

Another place to look for old Installers is Low End Mac's Swap List: http://lowendmac.com/lists/swap.html

You live in Sweden, I think you guys have apple stores there, or at least the Apple online store can ship the DVD from somewhere in Europe/Scandinavia. Also, if you have an apple store in sweden close to you, you could try taking it to them to see if they can restore it for free (you never know!), or at least cheaper than the other options (I doubt it).

Also, this documentation from Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3910
"Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install"

Hope it helps.



After you restore, you use the software update to get to the latest version of OSX 10.6, after that, as denelec says, I think you can open the Mac app store and then look for OSX Mavericks, it's the latest version. But I would recommend not to upgrade until you got 4 or 8gb of ram and after doing your research to find out if this particular model will slow down with such an update.

P.S. for your information, the disks that came with this computer are called:
mac os x install disc
applications install disc
You can look for those online, either physical DVDs or iso files you can burn.

[nitro2k01]

That looks like a 2006 or 2007 model MacBook. You may find it a bit slow for video editing by today's standards. Please click more info and note the model code, for example MacBook2,1. One big limitation of that computer is the maximum RAM size which is 3 GB or if you're lucky 4 GB. This is, btw, not a 32 bit OS limitation, but a hardware limitation in the chipset. To make the most out of the machine, upgrade the RAM, and replace the hard drive with an SSD.
The RAM type you need is DDR2 PC-5300 (667MHz). As for the SSD, any 2.5" SATA SSD will do, but you will not gain additional performance from a SATA3 drive.

[ivan747]

Also, if your Mac can run one of these 2 versions of OSX (confirm this once you know the model, as nitro said), check out post #3 here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1436784

[Teljemo]

ok.. thx..
yes we have apple stores;)

oh.. i will try the option key..

In more info it says: Macbook 5.2

Im emptying the trash now and it seems to take a while.. will try the option key after that.
I was thinking.. it that doesn't work. maybe i can remove stuff manually.. just don't know where to look on a mac.
there is about 45gb used so there must be some files somewhere.. where to look??

And in that case. can I make me a new user and delete the old user.. where/how.. i have the log in password of course.

need to sleep now.. I'll check back tomorrow.. (in about 9 hours)

[LabSpokane]

The operating system is more than 4 years old.
You should be able to update it to 10.9.5 for free via the Appstore.

He can't.  That Macbook is cut off at Snow Leopard. 

[nitro2k01]

He can't.  That Macbook is cut off at Snow Leopard.

Incorrect. I was off in my assessment that this was a 2006-2007 MacBook. Macbook5,2 is the 2009 model, and it should be able to run 10.10 (Yosemite). Whether it would be a good idea is another question. If you want to upgrade to the latest versions of OSX, more RAM and an SSD are, again, highly recommended. This hardware should support 4 GB of RAM (officially) or 6 GB if you put in one 4 GB and one 2 GB stick.

[LabSpokane]

He can't.  That Macbook is cut off at Snow Leopard.

Incorrect. I was off in my assessment that this was a 2006-2007 MacBook. Macbook5,2 is the 2009 model, and it should be able to run 10.10 (Yosemite). Whether it would be a good idea is another question. If you want to upgrade to the latest versions of OSX, more RAM and an SSD are, again, highly recommended. This hardware should support 4 GB of RAM (officially) or 6 GB if you put in one 4 GB and one 2 GB stick.

An SSD and some RAM and it will be great. I have a 2007 and tossed in an SSD and it's very usable.

[Stonent]

DDR2 memory prices jump significantly once you go past 2GB modules.

[n45048]

I'm curious as to why you would use that machine for video editing? It's pretty dated. Unless it's just SD video, your performance is going to be pretty awful.

[Teljemo]

Didint get that many options


About video editing.. it's only for YouTube.. and the software version is dated about the same time as this puter.. and I only have Photoshop CS5.. a couple of years that to...

it should handle that right?

Can i borrow i DVD if i can find someone else who has a copy?..
A new snow leopard is only 20USD.. but as we say in Sweden: many small streams becomes a large river (directly translated)

I can get 1500 Led's for that money instead

[jeremy]

You can install the operating systems via a bootable usb drive: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5856

[Teljemo]

does the new installation creates a new recovery partition (Recovery HD)
if i get a hold of a DVD or USB
it would be great to have that option the next time..

[nitro2k01]

You can create a recovery partition yourself.
Get an ISO image or more likely DMG image of the preferred OS version from "somewhere". Go into the disk manager application and create a new partition that is big enough to fit the contents of the DMG. Unlike in Windows, this will resize the old partition. Mount the DMG image by double clicking it. Copy all files to the newly created partition. Reboot and hold option (alt). Unless there are caveats that I forgot, you should now see your installation partition in the boot menu. Boot it. Somewhere in the installation process you will get the option to reformat the original partition, so you're getting a clean install.

If you format a USB stick as HFS+ in the disk manager, you should be able to copy the boot files to it as well, and use it as an installation medium.

[NiHaoMike]

Core 2 Duo is pretty old by now but still useful. See what GPU is in it.

[Teljemo]

cant see anything on it at the moment.. the screen blanket out.. it does it from time to time.. if i look closely i can see the desktop.
when i close the screen it turns on when its about 10cm from fully closed.. when i open it goes dark again.. maybe someone can help me with that to.. ??


the installation turned our good.. had to erase the partition but then it worked =)

[ivan747]

cant see anything on it at the moment.. the screen blanket out.. it does it from time to time.. if i look closely i can see the desktop.
when i close the screen it turns on when its about 10cm from fully closed.. when i open it goes dark again.. maybe someone can help me with that to.. ??


the installation turned our good.. had to erase the partition but then it worked =)

It seems like a strange problem.It might be one of the backlight cables or could be the backlight PCB. That is a more or less cheap fix, but I don't know how hard is to open up a plastic MacBook case. I've done those replacements a couple of times already and it's only hard when they make the laptop hard to open. Look for a guide in iFixit.

[Teljemo]

It was a cable for the backlight that war broken..
I did a small guide my self on how to fix it.. if anyone else get the problem..

http://www.workshopprojects.net/macbook-5-2-backlight-fix/
There is a clip showing how it looked to.. sry for the bad editing of the clip.. i have all new design and editing on all my new clips..

[ivan747]

It was a cable for the backlight that war broken..
I did a small guide my self on how to fix it.. if anyone else get the problem..

http://www.workshopprojects.net/macbook-5-2-backlight-fix/
There is a clip showing how it looked to.. sry for the bad editing of the clip.. i have all new design and editing on all my new clips..

Nice cheap fix man, I hope the MacBook serves you well for a long time. Good luck with the upgrades