What to do with 73 2009 macbooks?

[drhigh]

I currently have about 73 late 2009 macbooks, working with hard drives, most with missing keys. Ive tried contacting companies that buy old technology but everyone has passed on this. Is there any way to get money out of these or are they worthless?

 

[velocityg4]

Setup a cluster computer.

Depends how much time you have. Sell them on eBay. Piecemealing together good working ones. Any remaining good parts sell. Then send the remainder to a recycler.

If it isn’t worth the time for you. If you have kids, nieces or nephews. Give them to them to do the above. It’s probably good for a couple grand.

If none of that works for you. Put the lot on Craigslist or similar for $500. Someone will buy them to fix and flip.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

@dandeco

 

[dandeco]

They could be useful to someone. I remember in September 2017 I needed a working MacBook for college, and so I bought a late 2009 unibody polycarbonate MacBook that did not included a hard drive or AC adapter (but I already had the latter). When it arrived in the post, I immediately pulled it out, plugged it into the AC adapter and turned it on. It chimed and booted to the flashing question mark folder icon, and a big grin formed on my face. All I had to do was pop in a 256 GB SSD and max out the RAM to 8 GB, and I had a decent laptop I could use at my college campus and anywhere else on the go. It was even fine for light Photoshop and HD video editing (though I did miss the conveniences of USB 3.0 and a built-in SD card slot like on my 2012 quad-core Mac Mini, but for the latter I got a USB SD card reader that did the job nicely.) Ultimately once I got my current computer tech job and had saved up enough, I knew the time was right to get a new Mac laptop, so I took the plunge and bought an M1 MacBook Air in spring 2021.
I still have that polycarbonate unibody MacBook as part of my collection of older Macs, but I often use it for running a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition!

 

[weezin]

Are there any in great cosmetic condition? If so, I'll buy one!

 

[Onimusha370]

They could be useful to someone. I remember in September 2017 I needed a working MacBook for college, and so I bought a late 2009 unibody polycarbonate MacBook that did not included a hard drive or AC adapter (but I already had the latter). When it arrived in the post, I immediately pulled it out, plugged it into the AC adapter and turned it on. It chimed and booted to the flashing question mark folder icon, and a big grin formed on my face. All I had to do was pop in a 256 GB SSD and max out the RAM to 8 GB, and I had a decent laptop I could use at my college campus and anywhere else on the go. It was even fine for light Photoshop and HD video editing (though I did miss the conveniences of USB 3.0 and a built-in SD card slot like on my 2012 quad-core Mac Mini, but for the latter I got a USB SD card reader that did the job nicely.) Ultimately once I got my current computer tech job and had saved up enough, I knew the time was right to get a new Mac laptop, so I took the plunge and bought an M1 MacBook Air in spring 2021.
I still have that polycarbonate unibody MacBook as part of my collection of older Macs, but I often use it for running a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition!
View attachment 2139546

Oh man, seeing the white plastic MacBook has made my day. Wish I was old enough to have one when they came out - such vintage apple design. Closest thing we have today is the colourful iMacs, just a joy to use