How Os install on MacBook early 2008 4.1

[ggkameleon]

Hi ! I have an old MacBook early 2008 4.1 polycarbonate white and send it for my young boy.
But the mistake is with lion the os are to old and can't use it corectly safari chrome etc.. it's very sad because os x lion run very fast when I see old Pc on Windows 7 slowly but all software works.

I have test to update it on Yosemite and can create usb with MacPostFactor and work fine. But can't install the X3100.pkg kext with MacExtractor. for apply kext I download files for Gpu update recovery and audio and Gpl but the os are slowly and when apply audio kext the dock disapear and black wallpaper Rrrrr I do to reisntall many times.

I think is better to install linux ubuntu or Elementary os juno or Chrome book os or Windows 7 ?

If someone Can help me for install the best Os run more good in this old macbook with 4go of Ram.
Thanks.

 

[DeltaMac]

I have that model MacBook4,1
I also have a lot of challenges trying to use Yosemite. Finder often will not draw complete windows, and it is often very jerky to move icons on the screen. I keep using Yosemite because there's some newer versions of some apps that I need, but cannot use in Lion.

But, I get the BEST use from Windows 10. It's a challenge to get Apple drivers for Windows that support the old hardware, but at least for my use, I prefer to use Win10, rather than any version of OS X, at least on that MacBook

One other tip that I have - it's really easy to swap out the hard drive.
If you are not using an SSD in that old MacBook, you should.
I have a 120GB SSD, that I bought new a couple of months ago, for about $19. Space enough for my use, and even keep both Yosemite, and Windows 10 installs on the same drive.
I don't need more space, but you might find that 120GB is just not enough. I have had good luck with cheap SSDs, such as those from Kingston. You may get different opinions from others here, but Kingston SSDs work well for the old Macs that I keep for various reasons. I know you can find 240 GB Kingston SATA SSD for less than $30. Again, no problems with Kingston for my use, and you get that expected performance increase that you should get with any SSD.

 

[ggkameleon]

I have that model MacBook4,1
I also have a lot of challenges trying to use Yosemite. Finder often will not draw complete windows, and it is often very jerky to move icons on the screen. I keep using Yosemite because there's some newer versions of some apps that I need, but cannot use in Lion.

But, I get the BEST use from Windows 10. It's a challenge to get Apple drivers for Windows that support the old hardware, but at least for my use, I prefer to use Win10, rather than any version of OS X, at least on that MacBook

One other tip that I have - it's really easy to swap out the hard drive.
If you are not using an SSD in that old MacBook, you should.
I have a 120GB SSD, that I bought new a couple of months ago, for about $19. Space enough for my use, and even keep both Yosemite, and Windows 10 installs on the same drive.
I don't need more space, but you might find that 120GB is just not enough. I have had good luck with cheap SSDs, such as those from Kingston. You may get different opinions from others here, but Kingston SSDs work well for the old Macs that I keep for various reasons. I know you can find 240 GB Kingston SATA SSD for less than $30. Again, no problems with Kingston for my use, and you get that expected performance increase that you should get with any SSD.

Hi ! Thank you for your response :_)
Windows 10 work fine on this MacBook 2008 4.1 core 2 duo intel x3100 ? Great.. yes it's a good solution.
How install it ?
Just download windows 10 and install it with bootcamp ? Thanks

 

[macgeek18]

I use OSX 10.7.5 with WaterFox as a web browser. I put in a SSD and maxed it out at 6GB of RAM and it flies for web browsing. It's faster than my "high end" Chromebook with a Core M3 most days!

 

[EugW]

With my 2.4 GHz MacBook4,1 with 4 GB RAM, I tried 10.7.5 with alternate browsers and then I tried both CloudReady Chrome OS and Ubuntu Linux.

Ubuntu was the most versatile but I ran into weird performance bugs where it take eons just for system preferences to load, after I upgraded to the latest 5 year support version. A later update didn’t fix that issue.

I also noticed that the MacBook’s fan would go into vacuum cleaner mode even just with light usage. I changed the thermal paste and that reduced the fan noise but overall the OS limitations were just too much to make the machine usable.

So finally I just retired it and bought a MacBook5,1 for cheap off Kijiji. The MacBook5,1 is MUCH better, even though the one I got is only 2.0 GHz. I’m running 10.13 High Sierra on it, with SSD and 8 GB RAM. (Even with just 4 GB RAM though, it is still way better than the MacBook4,1.)

 

[0403979]

Hello, developer and MacBook4,1 user here. You can run up to 10.15 Catalina on your MacBook although versions newer than 10.8 will not have graphics acceleration. Some helpful links: https://github.com/rmc-team/macos-patcher (by me) https://www.discord.gg/XbbWAsE