Macbook Pro

ishamy

ishamy

ishamy

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Isle Of Lewis
Macbook Pro Project

Hi all, I'm pretty new to this section so hello!

I have just picked up a faulty MacBook Pro 17inch, with the intention on getting it up and running (hopefully cheaply) as I got it for nothing, so it’s a good start already. I'm not sure what year it is or what so not really sure where to start.

What I have been told about it from the previous owner (another techie in the office, who got it to repair and didn't ever get round to it) is that the Motherboard is finished, battery is finished, no power supply and no RAM. Also there is no HDD in it so I assume I would have to acquire a license of OSX? Or will there be a license sticker similar to windows somewhere?

Basically is there any point working on this or am I better off just leaving it alone? I want to try and do this to a small budget. At the moment I have a 2008 Dell Vostro V1700 CORE 2 DUO T7250 2.00GHz with 3Gb Ram and with 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, so that not a bad laptop will the MacBook be more powerful? I know it all depends on the specs etc. Is there a way to find out what the specs of my model are without switching it on?

As I am new to Mac there may be a good few stupid questions! Be gentle haha
 
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HDD and Ram can be done cheap enough the battery depends on if its an old model i.e. it can be taken out without opening it up, as for the Mobo well that could be costly to repair or replace
 
Well, I should be able to fit RAM depending on what’s needed, should have some lying around, as well as a hard drive. The battery is out as it can be taken out without opening (although it is already open) there are none of the screws for closing in it either as they have gone walk abouts as well. Can it be powered direct from mains without a battery installed?
 
yea can stick in the power mains and boot it up without the battery but if the mono is knackered not sure how far it will go
 
The motherboard/logic board is probably the most expensive part. you'll just have to keep an eye out on ebay for a replacement. Is there maybe a serial number at the bottom which you can google?
 
Thanks yea, looks like it's a 2007, not sure if it's an early or late.

This is printed inside the battery cover '2.4Ghz/2x2g/250/sd/hi-res glsy/fce/aex-gbr'
So CPU Speed, RAM that was installed, HD installed, and a Hi-res glossy screen? Not sure what the rest means.

I am seeing that the logic board isn't cheap and hard to come by, if I'm lucky I might find one somewhere. Just not sure if it is worth the spend...

What would you guys do?
 
Depends on how much time you're willing to invest in it. parts might just come up on ebay which you might be able to purchase cheaply. But again have to wait till one comes up.

Check out prices to see how much they're going for as it is and see if you're better off just selling it :)
 
ishamy said:
Thanks yea, looks like it's a 2007, not sure if it's an early or late.

This is printed inside the battery cover '2.4Ghz/2x2g/250/sd/hi-res glsy/fce/aex-gbr'
So CPU Speed, RAM that was installed, HD installed, and a Hi-res glossy screen? Not sure what the rest means.

I am seeing that the logic board isn't cheap and hard to come by, if I'm lucky I might find one somewhere. Just not sure if it is worth the spend...

What would you guys do?
Click to expand...

250gb Hard drive and SD card slot (could not be though). Fce *might* be the webcam and aex-gbr looks like Great Britain - so the keyboard layout? Basically a high end model back then, very expensive. (I am assuming Apple printed that info there and it isn't on some masking tape in a sharpie).
 
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