The 2009 MacBook, 15 years later! - Review

The 2009 polycarbonate MacBook came out 15 years ago now as a spec bump for the MacBook line. It was the entry-level option and became very popular among students as it was quite capable, being only just behind the base level MacBook Pro's specs. It may have been capable then, but how usable is it 15 years later?

Music:
Trespassers by Mike Klubnika
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

[lanceorventech]

Using Macbook Pro Mid 2009 running mac os Catalina and its been doing well after 15 years!

[GtGlem]

Good info thanks! I obtained a 2009 macbook recently. The DVD slot/case was badly buckled so I took a chance, dismantled it somewhat and used a certain amount of brute force with spudgers & credt cards etc to try and improve the slot, and also filed the slot too. Was succesful. I managed to run Linux on it via a live CD, and then dual-booted Windows 7 followed by upgrade to Windows 10. Initially needed some fiddling with BootCamp scripts. Running Windows 10 is should be better with a RAM upgrade to 8GB (which this model can manage) and also cloning the drive to an SSD....as well as tweaking out the shiny stuff.
Even today, it's a nice laptop to use, though bulky compared to modern gear.

[techobotturkiye]

How the hell ur runnin Sonoma on spinning hdd and whoppin 2 gigs of RAM? That thing must be a fireball 💀🔥

[stratelite]

This is the newest macbook with firewire 400. Useful if you have an ipod collection.

[geremias]

I currently daily drive an early 2009 2.0 Ghz macbook running MacOS Big Sur, 4 GB of RAM and a 120 SSD just for office work and does the job pretty well!

[Ilikebred]

have a 2012 macbook pro, not the fastest but works fine, but gonna upgrade to an ssd as soon as i get a chance

[Kanddande]

I used mine until 2015 😂 loved that slow piece of junk

[kjriwoutube]

I have that keyboard backlight 2010 macbook

[guaiqueritech]

I would recommend Zorin OS instead of any recent MacOS vía OCLP.

[laurencejohnson]

A ram., upgrade and a Linux distro installed on an ssd., would really improve it's performance.
I have a 2008 17 inch MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz., core 2 duo, 8 gig of ram., and a 240 gig ssd., and it currently works well with Linux Mint Mate installed.

[blueSMOX]

Was this actually $999? That's crazy since 15 years its still the same price, roughly

[torinatorproductions]

Had one, it blew up. 0/10 would not recommend.