2017 macbook 💻
Two years ago, now, I documented my adventures in getting macOS running on a Dell Latitude. Because of reasons, that stopped working about a year ago.
I regularly scout eBay when I’m in the market for something new or drunk, and for one of those reasons I bought a mid-spec MacBook (2017 Retina) for about £200 (or <£100 after a voucher I had).
Using OpenCore Legacy Patcher I’ve got it running the latest stable version of macOS Sequoia 15.4, and it’s actually very useable.
The 12 inch MacBook got a bit of a rep for it’s form at all costs approach to its’ design. I think this form factor and design is screaming for a reboot with Apple Silicon, but I really can’t see it happening. I’ve been looking at the 13 inch MacBook Air in every Apple Store I’ve come across over the last four weeks (including 3 in London whilst on holiday last week), but so far I’ve managed to hold off.
The keyboard travel is non-existant, to the point that typing for prolonged periods can actually be painful, thermal throttling is certainly an issue, and performance in general is nothing to write home about. However, it’s a capable web and media machine. I’ve tried to do some app development with Rider and Xcode, but both applications really struggle on the 1.3GHz Dual Core Intel i5, even with the optional upgrade to 8GB RAM.
The machine is light. I mean, really light. The 12-inch form factor means it’s comfortable enough to rest it on my lap for long periods (even when the thermals really hot up). My biggest fear is that there is some light creaking and cracking sounds when carrying or lifting around, it feels certifiably fragile.
Battery life is decent, as I don’t think it had much use in its’ previous life, and overall I’ve been very happy with it.
I’m not sure Apple will release any/many future releases of macOS for Intel, at which point its’ usability will slowly dwindle, but until then I’m happy with my smol Mac.