2009 unibody macbook setting up and upgrading

[elf69]

So my unibody arrived today.

great condition and the rubber base not peeled around edges like they usually do.

two scratches in screen but no that visible when on.

It running El Capitan.

No reset discs but they don't come with anymore.

In preferences is start up disc.

what is this and will it help me repair mac in future if needed.
can I download the OS or must i buy from apple?

I will be upgrading the mac too as time goes on.
Will post here as i upgrade.

 

[pigoo3]

So my unibody arrived today.

great condition and the rubber base not peeled around edges like they usually do.

Great to hear it.

Yes the rubberized bottom is prone to peeling. Some other areas to check are:

- cracks on the palm rest area's
- cracks in the housing near the hinges (due to over-opening of the display)

In preferences is start up disc.

No sure what you mean. Can you describe in more detail?

can I download the OS or must i buy from apple?

Latest OS is El Capitan 10.11 (what it's running). Nothing newer to download. But El Capitan is a free download.

- Nick

 

[elf69]

No cracks where you say nick.

I mean can I download 10.11 to reinstall if goes wrong?

this is the startup disk icon.

there is a scratch on the touchpad though.

keyboard looks almost new.

 

[elf69]

when I boot it I get the apple logo and a scroll bar which takes ages.

Can I do anything about this?

 

[pigoo3]

I mean can I download 10.11 to reinstall if goes wrong?

You can do an OS reinstall via the Recovery Partition (command + r on reboot gets you into the recovery partition).

this is the startup disk icon.

That "Startup Disk" icon is an application. It's primarily used to select what startup disk or partition you want to startup from. Four example you could have an internal hard drive and an external hard drive plugged into the computer. Each HD could (for example) be partitioned into two partitions each…and in (in theory) a user could have the Mac OS installed on each partition.

This would give the user four possible "Startup Disk" options. And the application "Startup Disk" is one way to select which disk/partition to start/boot the computer with.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

when I boot it I get the apple logo and a scroll bar which takes ages.

Can I do anything about this?

Could be due to old computer, newest OS, and 5400rpm HD. And you never know…the HD may not be in the best of health.

Many folks find installing an SSD to really "perk" things up. Yes…I know you mentioned that a new drive of some sort would be one of the upgrades you have planned.

- Nick

 

[elf69]

thanks nick.

yeah 1TB hybrid will be one of first upgrades.

SSD be better but need the storage space and cannot afford a 1TB SSD.

 

[pigoo3]

SSD be better but need the storage space and cannot afford a 1TB SSD.

If you put a 1 terabyte SSD into a 2009 MacBook…I'd have to fly to the UK and smack you!!! LOL

- Nick

 

[elf69]

£44 for hybrid 1TB sound good compromise.
has 8GB SSD to speed up the drive.

Reviews have seen good results in mac laptops.
That is real end user reviews too...

Is there any point upping the ram to the 8GB max or no real use over the 4GB in it now?

 

[pm-r]

Does what the Startup Disk say the selected boot disk is and what About this Mac says agree that the same boot volume is being used???

 

[pigoo3]

Is there any point upping the ram to the 8GB max or no real use over the 4GB in it now?

Many folks say that 4gig is ok for El Capitan…but 8gig is better. Since this is a older computer…8gig of ram may prove to be even more helpful.

But. Since you have the computer…and it has 4gig of ram now…why not use it for a while…and see what you think.

- Nick

 

[elf69]

I not really pushed it yet.

so until i go back to work not sure how will cope under any kind of demand.

 

[elf69]

had to remove bottom today as one base screw kept falling out.
threads stripped from chassis.

replaced screw with another with bigger threads.

also HDD has been replaced with a 5400rpm HP marked drive.
This is probably why the start up is bit slow.

also optical is dated march 2010 so it too been replaced I guess.

 

[pigoo3]

also HDD has been replaced with a 5400rpm HP marked drive.
This is probably why the start up is bit slow.

5400rpm drives are original equipment for 2009 Unibody MacBook's.

also optical is dated march 2010 so it too been replaced I guess.

2009 Unibody MacBook's were released October, 2009…and discontinued May, 2010. Thus a March, 2010 date on the optical drive would fall well within this timeframe.

- Nick

 

[elf69]

My macbook shows a charge cycle number of 267.

seems to be working for about little over 5 hours on battery which is great compared to my windows stuff.

optical drive is much faster at loading a photo cd than my desktop windows 10 PC.

 

[elf69]

Am i right in thinking this macbook video ram is shared and not dedicated?

It has the geforce 9400M GFX card.

 

[pm-r]

Am i right in thinking this macbook video ram is shared and not dedicated?

It has the geforce 9400M GFX card.

Yup, seems like it does… if this is your exact MB…

"… a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M "graphics processor with 256 MB of SDRAM shared with main memory", …"
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/index-macbook.html

 

[elf69]

yes mine is:

Late 2009 - MC207LL/A - MacBook6,1 - A1342

running El Capitan.

 

[elf69]

I get this:

On boot and can take a while, not measured but 10-20 seconds at worst then loads os.
This was not as long when first got the macbook, and got longer after the latest update.

OK so it is a 2009 macbook so it will be little slower.

Do you guys think my hybrid upgrade will help?
Is there a utility to check disc/defrag?
Or is this bad idea?

 

[pm-r]

…
… … …
On boot and can take a while, not measured but 10-20 seconds at worst then loads os.
This was not as long when first got the macbook, and got longer after the latest update.

OK so it is a 2009 macbook so it will be little slower.

Do you guys think my hybrid upgrade will help?
Is there a utility to check disc/defrag?
Or is this bad idea?

It's hard to tell what you're actually measuring but you can sure search the 'net for some comparisons.

I dare say a lot of six+ year old HDD MacBook users would be happy or at least content with under 60 second total boot times.

Have a look here if you want:
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=how+long+to+boot+2009+macbook&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

PS: You Mac's OS will look after most of any defrag problems, especially if you leave it running and do some occasional maintenance on it. Even a total shutdown and reboot can help.

iDefrag has a demo (free), or at least used to, if you really want to have a look.
http://coriolis-systems.com/iDefrag/