Old Mac Book needs a serious update! HELP!

Hi guys,

My bro has passed me his old Macbook which is ancient! It hasn't been updated in so long that it is many OS's behind the times, and has stopped working with apps such as iTunes due to not being able to update to the new versions of apps due to the OS being so old! Hence he has asked me to help him out and update the OS.

I have a feeling that updating from such an old OS will cause some major issues, and involve a cost to pay for the updated OS. How far can I take the update? and will the hardware even be able to run a newer OS at a decent rate?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys, thanks!

Here's the current spec...

You can try this, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886, to see if that MB can use El Capitan.

ferrarr said:

You can try this, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886, to see if that MB can use El Capitan.

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, yeah funnily enough I've been trying to upgrade to El Capitan this afternoon. However, when I try to get it via the app store (same page as in your link) it says it needs to carry out a text msg verification, but then doesn't send a text and goes to a grey screen once the clicked...



Currently trying to download an El Capitan .dmg file

By MB, do you mean mother board? Implying that some of the hardware may not be up to the task running newer OS's?

I've got the exact specs via serial number now, if that helps?...

Sorry, MB = MacBook.

That's the model I thought you had, but wasn't positive.

Can you temporarily change the payment info associated with you Apple ID?

Bob. No need to be sorry. The OP’s first post shows the exact specs for the MacBook. It’s a 5.1.

And he only has 2GB of memory. Doubt that would support El Capitan, but maybe it could be upped to something better?

Ian

According to this page that mac can take up to a max of 8 GB of ram. MacTracker says that this model can take an OS up to 10.11.6 (El Capitan) but estimates its valus at only a little over $150.00 US. I think that message you are getting means that two-factor authentication is enabled on the account. It would not be specific to PayPal accounts. I have not seen the two factor authentication message under Snow Leopard but I bet that is what it looks loke.

If two factor authentication is on and the phone number there is his, he should get a verification code sent to that phone. Once the code is entered he should be able to access the App Store.

What's the PayPal and any payment all about with a download from Apple for basically a free mac OS update???

Using the suggested URL from Apple's kb article:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12




- Patrick
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I think that mmessage will happen once in a while regardless of payment method. IIRC I got it a few days ago when downloading a free update. I got the message on an account that had not been used in a while.

IWT said:

Bob. No need to be sorry. The OP’s first post shows the exact specs for the MacBook. It’s a 5.1.

And he only has 2GB of memory. Doubt that would support El Capitan, but maybe it could be upped to something better?

Ian

Click to expand...

It'll meet the minimum memory specs Ian, but I don't know how well it will run for general use with that small amount, even if El Cap'n does manage memory better than older OS X versions.

Apple's kb article says:

Can your Mac use El Capitan?
OS X El Capitan requires any of the following Mac models and versions of OS X.* It also requires at least 2GB of memory and 8.8GB of storage space.

Click to expand...

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/ht206886




- Patrick
======

Slydude said:

I think that mmessage will happen once in a while regardless of payment method. IIRC I got it a few days ago when downloading a free update. I got the message on an account that had not been used in a while.

Click to expand...

OK Sly, and I guess one just has to get used to the different and often odd Apple ways of doing things lately. Maybe some sort of change in life symptoms they're experiencing??? Or maybe just some part of two factor authentication that I avoid and can't even utilize thank gosh.




- Patrick
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My '08 MacBook Pro has a drive with Snow Leopard on it. I'll boot from it in a bit and see if the message I get is similar.

I'm wondering if the accounnt in question has undergone / is undergoing account recovery due to a forgotten password. That is one situation where I am pretty sure the message you see is similar. That would be one situation where not everyone would see that message.

@Sly

My '08 MacBook Pro has a drive with Snow Leopard on it. I'll boot from it in a bit and see if the message I get is similar.

Click to expand...

OT here, but it's interesting that I've gone the opposite direction with my older 2007 MBPro and have installed El Cap'n on it with 6GB RAM.




- Patrick
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In my '08 I removed the DVD drive and put the old hard drive with Snow Leopard in the DVD bay. It has had a couple of replacement hard drives in the last decade. <,ostly due to those drives being dropped and failing. I now have an SSD in as the primary drive. It was my only Mac till late 2015 when I bought an iMac. The MBP was my primary/omly machine till then. It's still fast enough to get the things done that I need to.

It is stuck at El Cap even though I think there are some '08 vintage machines out there that can take Sierra. There's supposed to be a "fix" oout there that lets that machine run Sierra.

It is stuck at El Cap even though I think there are some '08 vintage machines out there that can take Sierra. There's supposed to be a "fix" oout there that lets that machine run Sierra.

Click to expand...

Even if so, for my own use, I wouldn't even bother for the features it has that that I've read about that I can't even use and really don't need.




- Patrick
======

If I do it at all it will be as an experiment. I like having the latest features on my primary machine but they are not really a need on that machine.

There is a setting to require a password even for free Apps.

I assume that is what is happening?

In my case I think you are right. I have my account set up that way.

Kolnai said:

Thanks mate, yeah funnily enough I've been trying to upgrade to El Capitan this afternoon. However, when I try to get it via the app store (same page as in your link) it says it needs to carry out a text msg verification, but then doesn't send a text and goes to a grey screen once the clicked...

View attachment 28250

Currently trying to download an El Capitan .dmg file

By MB, do you mean mother board? Implying that some of the hardware may not be up to the task running newer OS's?

Click to expand...

Did you ever get it to work? It looks like two-factor authentication is on so you should have gotten a text. I'm assuming that it is your iTunes account you are using and it's not still trying to use your brother's account and sending the text to his phone?