MBP 1,1-10,2 MBP 15" late-2008 prolong life

[bjolester]

My wife has a very nice MBP 15" late-2008 2.4ghz that she purchased new. The MBP has 8gb RAM installed and runs El Capitan, otherwise everything is original hardware. These days she mostly uses the machine for watching YouTube videos, MS Word, connecting to OneDrive and general surfing (All banking and net-purchasing is done on a new iPhone 14).

The challenge with using the old MBP in 2023 is problems with certificates, for instanse when trying to connect to OneDrive via Safari. Some YouTube videos do not play well.

Apart from installing an SSD, what can be done to prolong the useful life of the late-2008 MBP?

PS: I like to experiment and tinker with my own MACs, but I would prefer not to use dosdude and OCLP on my wife’s MBP.

 

[rampancy]

The first thing to do is to look at the RAM slots. Do you see a green dot sticker?

If you do, your MacBook Pro is lucky enough to have had its original motherboard with the (notorious) Nvidia GeForce 8800m GPU replaced with a newer motherboard, with a revised GPU that will last a little longer. The revised GPU isn't a ticking time bomb like the original, but in my experience even these GPUs are prone to failure due to the heat envelope of the pre-unibody MacBook Pros.

To prolong the life of your Mac, changing the thermal compound and cleaning out the fans from dust buildup is an absolute must. On the software side, disable animations and transparency/translucency as much as possible across all of your apps and the OS (Accessibility in System Preferences is where you can disable these features in El Capitan).

YouTube can consume a lot of CPU resources and consequently lead to a lot of heat build up in your Mac, so you can try using browser extensions like h24ify, ViewTube, or the force 30 fps script in Tampermonkey to reduce the CPU/heat load from YouTube on your Mac.


If you don't see a green dot sticker, then your wife's MacBook Pro still has its original GPU, which was known for premature failures. Given its age and its unreliability, imminent failure is a certainty. Look into getting another cheap MacBook (like the MacBook 5,1, 5,2, 6,1 or 7,1) or a MacBook Pro that has either a GeForce 9400m or GeForce 320m GPU. Thankfully, transferring over should be as easy as just swapping the MacBook Pro's drive into the other Mac.

 

[bjolester]

The first thing to do is to look at the RAM slots. Do you see a green dot sticker?

If you do, your MacBook Pro is lucky enough to have had its original motherboard with the (notorious) Nvidia GeForce 8800m GPU replaced with a newer motherboard, with a revised GPU that will last a little longer. The revised GPU isn't a ticking time bomb like the original, but in my experience even these GPUs are prone to failure due to the heat envelope of the pre-unibody MacBook Pros.

To prolong the life of your Mac, changing the thermal compound and cleaning out the fans from dust buildup is an absolute must. On the software side, disable animations and transparency/translucency as much as possible across all of your apps and the OS (Accessibility in System Preferences is where you can disable these features in El Capitan).

YouTube can consume a lot of CPU resources and consequently lead to a lot of heat build up in your Mac, so you can try using browser extensions like h24ify, ViewTube, or the force 30 fps script in Tampermonkey to reduce the CPU/heat load from YouTube on your Mac.


If you don't see a green dot sticker, then your wife's MacBook Pro still has its original GPU, which was known for premature failures. Given its age and its unreliability, imminent failure is a certainty. Look into getting another cheap MacBook (like the MacBook 5,1, 5,2, 6,1 or 7,1) or a MacBook Pro that has either a GeForce 9400m or GeForce 320m GPU. Thankfully, transferring over should be as easy as just swapping the MacBook Pro's drive into the other Mac.

Thank you for providing interesting and valuable information! I will check out the things you suggest. It seems the MacBook Pro has the more recent GPU.

 

[rampancy]

Ah, I misread your post and you indeed have the 2008 MacBook Pro which didn't have the awful GeForce 8800m. Huzzah! 🥳

If your wife isn't tied to any specific purchased or require software that needs OS X, what you could also do is install Linux on your Mac. You wouldn't even need to erase your existing install of OS X – you could just swap out your drive with OS X installed for a cheap SSD on which you could install Linux.

The main advantage is that you'd have access to up-to-date versions of Chrome and Firefox and LibreOffice, greatly extending the usable lifespan of your Mac. Installing Linux has basically made some of my older 2006 and 2007-era MacBooks (with upgrades) feel like they can now be usable daily drivers for basic tasks.

 

[wicknix]

If the old Safari is the main problem with accessing sites, just install chromium-legacy, pale moon, or sealion web browsers which are all up to date. They will make the web capable again on El Capitan.

 

[bjolester]

Ah, I misread your post and you indeed have the 2008 MacBook Pro which didn't have the awful GeForce 8800m. Huzzah! 🥳

If your wife isn't tied to any specific purchased or require software that needs OS X, what you could also do is install Linux on your Mac. You wouldn't even need to erase your existing install of OS X – you could just swap out your drive with OS X installed for a cheap SSD on which you could install Linux.

The main advantage is that you'd have access to up-to-date versions of Chrome and Firefox and LibreOffice, greatly extending the usable lifespan of your Mac. Installing Linux has basically made some of my older 2006 and 2007-era MacBooks (with upgrades) feel like they can now be usable daily drivers for basic tasks.

The Linux option sounds interesting. I need to read more about Linux systems. Is Linux a more stable and less complex system than opting for a more recent OSX through patching? I guess running an Apple supported OS through patching (Monterey?), will not function well on this late-2008 MBP?

 

[bjolester]

If the old Safari is the main problem with accessing sites, just install chromium-legacy, pale moon, or sealion web browsers which are all up to date. They will make the web capable again on El Capitan.

Thank you! I will follow your advice and install one of the web browsers you suggest ASAP.

 

[wicknix]

GitHub - blueboxd/chromium-legacy: Latest Chromium (≒Chrome Canary/Stable) for Mac OS X 10.7+

Latest Chromium (≒Chrome Canary/Stable) for Mac OS X 10.7+ - blueboxd/chromium-legacy

github.com

The Pale Moon Project homepage

Pale Moon is an Open Source, Mozilla-derived web browser available for Microsoft Windows and Linux, focusing on efficiency and ease of use.

www.palemoon.org

GitHub - wicknix/SeaLion: Web browser for MacOS 10.7 - 14.1 and Linux.

Web browser for MacOS 10.7 - 14.1 and Linux. Contribute to wicknix/SeaLion development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

The Linux option sounds interesting. I need to read more about Linux systems. Is Linux a more stable and less complex system than opting for a more recent OSX through patching? I guess running an Apple supported OS through patching (Monterey?), will not function well on this late-2008 MBP?

Being new to Linux, I found Ubuntu 22.04 to be an easy lift to install and use. The distro is polished and well supported at this time. I have 22.04 installed on an 08 aluminum unibody mb and my 09 aluminum unibody mbp. Works very well on 8gb ram & SSD. There are all sorts of distros out there; Ubuntu is not the only one.

You can always update the certs as well. Instructions are Here. Also, on my Early Intel Macs running El Cap, I leverage Wicknix's SeaLion Browser - very nice, clean minimalist design.

Best of luck to you

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Oh yeah, if you try Ubuntu and run into an error setting up the wireless, the fix is to run this in terminal and reboot:

sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

I ran into this issue with both my 08 and 09 unibody aluminum Macs, and a super easy fix once you know what to do.

 

[bjolester]

Being new to Linux, I found Ubuntu 22.04 to be an easy lift to install and use. The distro is polished and well supported at this time. I have 22.04 installed on an 08 aluminum unibody mb and my 09 aluminum unibody mbp. Works very well on 8gb ram & SSD. There are all sorts of distros out there; Ubuntu is not the only one.

You can always update the certs as well. Instructions are Here. Also, on my Early Intel Macs running El Cap, I leverage Wicknix's SeaLion Browser - very nice, clean minimalist design.

Best of luck to you

Thank you very much for your helpfulness!

 

[DCBassman]

Oh yeah, if you try Ubuntu and run into an error setting up the wireless, the fix is to run this in terminal and reboot:

sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

I ran into this issue with both my 08 and 09 unibody aluminum Macs, and a super easy fix once you know what to do.

Not forgetting that to achieve this, you still need internet access (or I did), so an Ethernet cable to the router might be very useful!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Not forgetting that to achieve this, you still need internet access (or I did), so an Ethernet cable to the router might be very useful!

Absolutely @DCBassman. This is in fact exactly how I achieved updating wifi drivers. Make sure that you are connected to the internet via your modem/router to your computer via ethernet cat4/5 cable. Ethernet works fine out of the box in Ubuntu 22.04.