In the spirit of my previous post about switching to Linux Mint, I decided I’d go ahead and re-purpose my old computer.

Introducing: Apple MintBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2012)

I think you nerds are gonna love it. I can actually do light gaming on this, too. Runs surprisingly fast, too!

Unlike modern day Apple, this MacBook was always fun to work on because you can easily swap parts without worrying about cloud activation locks, soldered RAM, glued batteries with self-destruct, etc. I dropped in a new aftermarket battery that took me five minutes to replace, upgraded the RAM, and slapped in a higher capacity SSD than what I originally bought this with back in the day.

My MintBook Pro runs fantastic, especially on Linux Mint 22.1 Xia with the new battery performance modes. Can’t wait to use this more!

I tused to sit in a drawer as ewaste since the last possible compatible Mac OS version on this computer ran terrible and made my MacBook Pro unusable. Now that I upgraded to a MintBook Pro, the performance is incredible! Going to use this for when I need a computer away from my desk. Nice to have one for the couch that functions as an actual laptop!

Specs:

  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
  • 13.3-in LED display at 1280x800 (LOL)
  • Intel i5-3210M @ 2.5 GHz
  • 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz (we ballin’ boys)
  • 1 TB SSD Samsung 850 EVO I think
  • CD/DVD burner (yass slay queen)
  • Intel HD Graphics 4000 (i can play Stardew Valley with so many frames, biggest frames ever)
  • This bad boy has the MagSafe power connector (my favorite back in the day) and firewire! Remember firewire?

Edit: Lemmy.world is having issues with uploading photos, so here’s some links instead for two more pics:

  • Jtskywalker@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    I had Debian running on a min-spec Air from the same era (2012 or 2013) and it is absolutely usable. Probably not for gaming though 😅

    It has xubuntu on it now. It is going to be used for my kids to access the Lego spike robotics stuff, and it works great for that!

    • CatZoomies@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      1 month ago

      Dead ass, bro?! Ong I swear I thought this was Linux fr. At least I got my bonzi buddy on my desktop, I swear on me mum

      Edit: I have no idea how the kids talk these days.

      • atro_city@fedia.io
        3·
        1 month ago

        That rizzed my brain bro.

        (No idea what fuck that meant, but I think you did a better job)

          • chingadera@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 month ago

            As someone directly between boomer and zoomer ages, I legitimately cannot tell which you are. Either you’re a boomer and are really good at capturing this, just doing what you would do anyway, or my age and just funnier. Either way, I applaud it.

            • CatZoomies@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              2·
              1 month ago

              I’m a millennial with a weird sense of humour lol. I try to diversify what I can, so I love classic old timey movies. Gone with the wind is great, and this meme just popped in my head so I whipped it up. Side note - I like old Chaplin movies, even some silent films too! One thing I’m gonna try to do is watch the “top movie of every year” for every year that movies were made. Seems like a fun challenge and a way to explore stuff I’ve never seen. My spouse won’t participate because she’s not really a movie person, so it’ll be something I’ll have to tackle solo! Could be fun.

              You can tell I’m a millennial because a lot of my sentences around here end with lol, lol.

              • chingadera@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                1 month ago

                Lmao no one asked all that, but I did love reading it.

                I absolutely love movies too, and I’ve never thought to sort them let alone marathon them in that way for lack of a better word. Absolutely gonna do that.

                What I do is I tell me girlfriend, yeah you don’t like this genre but give it 30 minutes if it’s a movie, and two episodes if it’s a show, if I can convince her in that span, she’s usually into it anyway because good content is good content.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      Yep no distro shaming. Just Linux fam. And actually that reminds me I have an old 2009 MacBook laying around. Seeing how standardized the hardware is. At least among Apple computers. It’s likely a really good base. Not that I need another computer running linux. LOL. But it’s always nice to have another.

    • CatZoomies@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      When I first installed it, it was running 22 (whatever version before Xia). Then, the embedded driver utility detected new drivers and I saw that there was a Broadcom driver available. The 2012 MacBook Pro had Broadcom, so I was lucky and knew this would be compatible. After updating drivers and the OS to Xia, wi-fi was working perfect!

      I’m not sure for other MacBooks which may have different network cards.

        • CatZoomies@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Darn, maybe it’s too new then, or maybe locked down drivers? Hopefully a solution opens up for Linux compatibility. Else, perhaps you can buy one of those miniature usb wi-fi dongles - a compromise for sure, but something to potentially consider.

  • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    Given that it’s effectively 720p, you can probably run a decent number of 3D games, even. For sure anything 2D should run fine unless it hammers the CPU like Dwarf Fortress.

    • CatZoomies@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      Ooh that’s a good point. I’ll install Steam and see what this computer can handle! I’ll probably use it more for idle/cosy games, but I’m sure there’s some 3-D ones that could play well on here. My current gaming setups are Steam Deck when I want to be away from desk, and if I’m serious for gaming time it’s on my desk PC.