Restoring a 2006 15" MacBook Pro A1150!

[dandeco]

Last week I picked up a 2006 15" Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro from my workplace's satellite location, presumably just sitting waiting to either be recycled or re-sold. I already have a couple of aluminum PowerBook G4s in my collection of older Mac laptops (a 17" from 2003 and a 15" from early 2005), so I thought it'd be a neat comparison...

Even with some slight differences in the case design, along with the MagSafe AC connector, the iSight webcam, and the lack of a built-in modem, S-video out and a FireWire 800 port, it's still fundamentally the same computer but with an Intel Core Duo processor rather than a PowerPC G4. So that means it runs faster and generates less heat.

This model has a 2.16 GHz Core Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card with 256 MB of dedicated video RAM, and it also came with a 120 GB hard drive.

When I first got it, the battery was completely dead, so dead that I have to reset the time and re-connect to the Wi-Fi whenever I plug it back in and turn it on. I already ordered a replacement battery. Additionally, the original stock SuperDrive wasn't working, so I had to use an old external USB DVD burner in order to wipe the hard drive and install Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife '11 via the Mac Box Set.

Of course, in addition to iLife '11, I also installed iMovie HD 6 just for that fun little throwback, as it's still fun to sometimes work with, even if I largely prefer Final Cut Pro (X) nowadays or Cyberlink PowerDirector for such video editing and effects, or the current iMovie for simpler videos.

Here I've opened up the case for swapping out the hard drive with a 256 GB SSD that I then cloned the 120 GB HDD onto, and the old SuperDrive with a newer dual-layer burning model from 2007.

The newer SSD and optical drive in place.

Here's the working SuperDrive in action, playing my DVD copy of one of my favorite "Peanuts" cartoons on DVD Player!

I then got ambitious and decided to set up a Boot Camp partition running Windows XP Home Edition SP3! Of course, I won't be doing much web browsing on it, even if I've got Firefox and the Avast Antivirus Free XP edition installed. But this way I can natively run XP without having to run a virtual machine if need be!

Even though the install CD had Service Pack 3 already installed as part of the system, it still came with Windows Media Player 9 pre-loaded onto the system, and any videos I'd try to play (WMV format, of course) came out colored funky like this. But downloading and upgrading to Windows Media Player 11 fixed that problem.

Even DV capture works on the Windows XP partition! Here I'm using Adobe Premiere 6.5, which is the version of Premiere I used at my high school's TV studio (also on XP). It does have a nice retro charm, and it works a lot better than when I try to use the Mac version of Premiere 6.5 on my PowerBook G4s!

Testing out capturing from my Sony DCR-TRV460 Digital8 camcorder into Windows Movie Maker 2. It was definitely inferior compared to iMovie at the time, but for Windows users it was definitely good for starting out in video editing before moving up to better software, like I did (using Adobe Premiere Elements and Pinnacle Studio Plus, in my case).

I will share more updates once I replace the battery!

 

[theMarble]

Nice find! These 2006 MBP's are great computers for Bootcamp, mine has Windows 7 but XP is better because it's from the same time period as the Mac. You should triple-boot Snow Leopard, XP and Tiger. Then you get the best of all worlds.

 

[rampancy]

The A1150 and A1211 are such wonderful machines; it's just too bad that I personally can't fully trust the GPU on my MacBook Pros to not eventually die under sustained heavy load.

Have you/are you considering changing the thermal paste and cleaning out the heatsinks and fans? That would be one way to further ensure the longevity of your computer.

 

[Amethyst1]

I then got ambitious and decided to set up a Boot Camp partition running Windows XP Home Edition SP3!

That darn wallpaper and the darn green/blue task bar... I'd hoped I'd never see those again. I think a MacBook Pro needs Windows XP Professional.

[...] Windows 7 but XP is better because it's from the same time period as the Mac.

If we're going to be pedantic, Vista would be the period-correct version of Windows.

Have you/are you considering changing the thermal paste and cleaning out the heatsinks and fans? That would be one way to further ensure the longevity of your computer.

Another thing worth doing is removing the black "tape" that covers the back of the speaker grilles and undervolting the CPU using e.g. CoolBook on Mac OS X and RMclock on Windows to make it run cooler (and use less power but that's of secondary concern). The ATI GPU might also undervolt using ATITool for lower temperatures.

 

[darngooddesign]

I can't believe how forward think Apple was, putting a USB-C port in that bottom Powerbook. 😀

 

[Amethyst1]

I can't believe how forward think Apple was, putting a USB-C port in that bottom Powerbook. 😀

Or rather... a hole for a Kensington lock.

 

[MultiFinder17]

Or rather... a hole for a Kensington lock.

No no no, you’ve both got it wrong. This was a beta test for the Lightning charging port!

 

[Amethyst1]

This was a beta test for the Lightning charging port!

I've found that when I put my MBPs onto an induction hot plate, it will charge the battery.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I've found that when I put my MBPs onto an induction hot plate, it will charge the battery.

Those much charge ‘em real good, because last time I put one on an induction hot plate the battery got huge! Must’ve been all the charge it was storing up.

(ProTip/Disclaimer - please never actually do this! I’m not responsible for the baller fire afterward.)

 

[dandeco]

The battery I ordered last week ended up not being delivered, as they claimed it was "undeliverable". Once the refund is processed back into my bank account (I use a debit card), I'm going to order another compatible battery to pop into the Pro.
Until then, have some more fun photos of the Pro in use...

I got an older-style Apple Remote from when my workplace had gotten a supply of these as part of a lot of older Macs from a school district. My boss wanted to get rid of them, but we agreed I could keep one for testing some certain Apple products with (like Apple TVs) and one for my collection at home. It works nicely with iTunes on this MacBook Pro...

...and with Front Row, too! This was a cool feature I liked in Mac OS X, and was sorry to see it go when 10.7 Lion was introduced. It was kind of like having an Apple TV built right into your Mac! (With the current Macs, it's like that too with the TV app, but without the stylish black fullscreen interface.)

Testing out the iSight webcam using Photo Booth. eeHEEheeheeheeheeheehee!

 

[rampancy]

I remember trying out Front Row for the first time on my A1211 MacBook Pro. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I must have spent at least a day just binging movie trailers from Apple.com. (Do they even still feature movie trailers?)

 

[Amethyst1]

I remember trying out Front Row for the first time on my A1211 MacBook Pro. [...]

I remember futzing to get it to run on my Mac mini G4.

 

[dandeco]

Well, I've since gotten the new battery for my 2006 MacBook Pro, and it does the trick nicely!
Another little experiment...

Look, DV capture even works in Windows XP through the FireWire 400 port on this! Here I am using Adobe Premiere 6.5, which as I said, I worked with at my high school's TV studio, and was impressed with the feature set it had compared to Windows Movie Maker and such. (So much that after graduating and when my brother and I got a new desktop PC to share, we got Adobe Premiere Elements for it as well. Now I use Adobe Premiere Pro on my M1 MacBook Air and sometimes my 2012 15" unibody MacBook Pro.) Back in the early-to-mid 2000's, Windows XP was an absolute must for PC video editing, as it had better performance and stability for doing so, compared to Windows 98 and ME and etc.

 

[GMShadow]

I used an A1150 with similar specs as yours - 2.0GHz instead of 2.16, but otherwise the same - as a side laptop from 2014-2016, and then as a temporary main in 2016 when my other machine died. Sadly it met an untimely end in 2017 after a hard fall.

Does yours have the coil whine when the CPU goes into an idle state? That was a common issue with these - you could run a small utility to keep the CPU from idling, it just murdered the battery.

 

[vorob]

The A1150 and A1211 are such wonderful machines; it's just too bad that I personally can't fully trust the GPU on my MacBook Pros to not eventually die under sustained heavy load.

Have you/are you considering changing the thermal paste and cleaning out the heatsinks and fans? That would be one way to further ensure the longevity of your computer.

I thought it’s Nvidia 8600 unit was infamous for gpu failure. Are you sure x1600 is also weak thing?

 

[Amethyst1]

Are you sure x1600 is also weak thing?

There were reports of failed X1600s and a logic board replacement programme.

 

[vorob]

There were reports of failed X1600s and a logic board replacement programme.

Are you sure about recall program? That’s, for sure, happened for 8600, but can’t find info about same for x1600.

Found this article, it says that issue is more case by case and no recall program in 2009.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing...600-graphics-cards-still-experiencing-issues/

 

[rampancy]

I thought it’s Nvidia 8600 unit was infamous for gpu failure. Are you sure x1600 is also weak thing?

There was definitely a very visible and arguably significant amount of users reporting failures of the RM X1600 across the MacBook Pro 1,x and 2,x line, but numerically the number of reported failures and complaints didn't seem to reach a level high enough to trigger Apple issuing an motherboard recall like with the GF 8600m GT. I too heard of Apple issuing out-of-warranty motherboard replacements, but AFAIK, there was no official blanket program.

I figure the main difference is that the failures of the X1600 in the MacBook Pro is IMO solely the fault of Apple and their thermally poor design and manufacture of the MacBook Pro, vs. the 8600m GT, which was due to a manufacturing defect at Nvidia.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Are you sure x1600 is also weak thing?

I can assure you personally that it's prone to failure. Ten years ago, the X1600 on my MBP 1,1's original logic board failed on me in spectacular fashion with garbage display artefacts that I regret not photographing because they made for interesting viewing. I've not experienced any issues in the years since then with its replacement board which is a later revision and apparently isn't known for exhibiting this problem but I'd be wary about purchasing a MBP 1,1 again.

 

[vorob]

Ye, i see I bought MBP A1211 few years ago because of ATI X1600. I'm a retro gamer and X1** are the last generation that runs old games properly (i'm talking about windows) so I bought this aluminum boy for my collection.

No idea if it was repaired or had mb replacement, but gpu works properly. But i'm setting coolers on max when game 3d intensive stuff.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Ye, i see I bought MBP A1211 few years ago because of ATI X1600. I'm a retro gamer and X1** are the last generation that runs old games properly (i'm talking about windows) so I bought this aluminum boy for my collection.

No idea if it was repaired or had mb replacement, but gpu works properly. But i'm setting coolers on max when game 3d intensive stuff.

Enjoy the retro gaming and fingers crossed that it continues to remain in fully working order.

 

[vorob]

Back to "restore" theme. Is it possible to re-cell the battery? I've got dead original and copy from ali-express that will die soon. Maybe there was a successful case?

 

[rampancy]

I wouldn't recommend it, though it is possible. I certainly have seen guides on YouTube on how to re-cell dead laptop batteries.

As for the X1600, I've heard anectdotally that the Core 2 Duo A1211 MacBook Pros were less prone to GPU failure than the A1150 Core Duo MacBook Pros. YMMV, but I pushed the A1211 that I used as my daily driver in grad school pretty hard as a gaming machine. It lived in a plastic hardshell case (albeit on a laptop cooler), and it would get really hot after my 6+ hour sessions of StarCraft II and Doom 3/Quake 4. To this day I haven't observed any GPU issues with it. The only issue it has had was a bulging battery.

 

[Windows 7Pro2009]

If we're going to be pedantic, Vista would be the period-correct version of Windows.

I actually put Vista on my A1150 2006 MBP 3 years ago, and it ran really well (currently it has Snow leopard/ win7 dual boot, but the latter runs really slow, compared to Vista
Unfortunately the charger's broken and the right fan has failed)