**The Ultimate 2009 MacBook: A Surprisingly Usable Laptop**

I recently picked up a 2009 MacBook that I bought off of Ebay for $200, and I have to say, it's been a surprisingly usable laptop. The first thing that caught my attention was the keyboard swap, which was done to cover up the scratched-up bottom of the original shell. While this isn't the best-looking MacBook in the world, it's definitely an improvement over its previous state.

But what really surprised me was how well the MacBook holds up today. After using it for a week or so, I found that it's actually surprisingly snappy for normal tasks like listening to Spotify, writing things up in Google Docs, and juggling a few tabs. The laptop feels downright snappy, and I've got to say, it's actually quite impressive.

One of the main reasons for this is the storage upgrade. I upgraded the hard drive to a terabyte of SSD storage, which makes a huge difference. Jumping up to eight gigs of RAM also makes a big impact, as MacOS really appreciates at least eight gigs. My biggest worry going into this was that the Core2 Duo would struggle, but when you run it through GeekBench, it's not bad - it's right up there with modern-day lower-end parts.

But don't get me wrong, throw more than a few different tasks at it at once and it will definitely start to slow down. However, as long as you treat it with the respect that a 2009 MacBook deserves, you can definitely get work done on this guy. A big part of that is because it's running a fully up-to-date version of MacOS High Sierra.

Sure, who knows if it'll ever receive another major MacOS update, and some apps don't like the Core2 Duo, but for the most part, it's just like using a modern MacBook. You're pretty much getting all of the features, including iMessage and even Siri. What's especially impressive is that even some high-end apps like Final Cut work - I'm being serious.

You can load up some 1080p video, 4k is a little bit too much for the MacBook to handle, and even the most recent version of Final Cut 10.4 is actually able to handle it pretty well. Now you will need some patience when it comes to the render side of things, but again, this is a 2009 MacBook that I bought off of Ebay for $200, and I'm editing actual HD video inside Final Cut, so yeah.

While our keyboard swap isn't for anything besides show, it does still hold up today. Somehow, almost ten years later, this is still better than most Windows laptops. So you're getting everything you like, including that solid tracking, you're getting plenty of multi-touch gestures, like three fingers to swipe between spaces, and more importantly, it just feels natural.

Port-wise, while I do miss USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort is nice if you want to go out to an external monitor, up to 2560x1600 in resolution, and MagSafe is still one of my favorite ways of charging a laptop ever. Even with that fresh battery though, you shouldn't expect 2018 levels of battery life.

So should you go out and load a 2009 MacBook with a terabyte of SSD storage? Probably not. But unlike a lot of our builds, this actually makes sense. Picking up a used MacBook and investing in some upgrades like the battery, memory, as well as an SSD, really will get you an experience that's going to be better than a lot of budget laptops.

Honestly, I would rather use this. What do you guys think about our super awesome ultimate 2009 MacBook? This has actually taken a turn I didn't expect, but it's actually kind of cool.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey, guys, this is Austin.You may have caught a video where I triedto game on this $200 MacBook,and it actually kind of worked,but today, we're here with part two,where I'm going to giveit a few choice upgrades.So this is a 2009 white MacBook,outfitted with a blisteringlyfast Core 2 Duo processor,four gigabytes of RAM,and currently NVIDIAGeForce 9400M graphics.That might not sound impressive,but this guy's actuallystill fully supportedon the latest versionof MacOS High Sierra,which got me thinking,can we actually make thisa usable MacBook for 2018?Thankfully, this is backwhen Apple made MacBooksthat you could kind of work on.So the first thing we seeis our 250 gig hard drive,which that guy's definitelygotta get out of here.There's also the optical drive,which we're going to be replacing.The battery, it still technicallyworks in this machine,but it's pretty old, sowe're going to replace that.We've got the memory.This is not that bad looking to work on.Now, depending on what you're doing,normally you don't actuallyhave to remove the batterybut because we just needto swap it out anyway,it's just going to makeit a little bit easierto get at some of theother components here.With that out of the way,now I'm going to remove the hard drive.So, even though the 250gig hard drive in hereactually does work just fine,we've got something justa little faster in mind.Next step is to remove the optical drive.Now, while it is kindof nice to have it here,I actually want to go with RAID SSDsbecause you know we dopractical things on the channel.There we go.Now, we just pull this cable out,and we have one optical drivethat has been freed from our MacBook.Now we're ready to startrebuilding the $200 MacBook.So the main reason toremove the optical drive isto use an OWC data doubler.The idea here is thatinstead of being ableto waste all that space on a DVD drive,which honestly, I'm never going to use,we can actually put anadditional SSD inside.The idea here is thatwe should just be ableto drop it right into place,if I can flip it the correct orientation,and it should just sit likethat and give us our SSD.One of the main things thatmakes an older computerlike this feel slow isthe mechanical hard drive,but we can fix that with a pairof 500 gigabyte WD blue SSDs.Now one of these by itselfwould probably be pretty quick,however, two of these in a RAID,it's going to be a little goofy.So I think with that, wehave our first SSD installed.All I need to do is putthis bracket back in place,and we can move on to the next one.Perfect, so now we have one terabyteof SSD storage in our lowly $200 MacBook.The next step is to upgrade the memory.So this laptop originallyshipped with two gigs of RAM,and at some point someoneupgraded it to four,however it does technicallysupport eight gigs of RAM.I've got to say, there's something coolabout the idea of taking a MacBookthat for most people is kindof considered old and obsoleteand actually giving it some love.It's kind of weird tothink that in the futurenew computers reallyare not this upgradable.It's pretty much you get what you get,and that's all that there is to it.Now we have the fun part.This is a replacement battery.So this original battery istotally fine, but the issue isbecause it's so old andit has so many cycles,while it does keep a charge,it's going to last 20-30 minutes,and a lot of MacBooks at this age,the battery's just completely flat,but the good thing isyou can still orderreplacements off of Amazon.Now generally speaking, I don't recommendgetting third party batteries for laptops.However, in this case, you're not goingto have any luck gettingone straight from Apple,so this should actually work just fine.Alright, it is moment of truth time.Let's plug this guy in,in case the battery isactually dead out of the box.Shows charging.(yells happily)So it should give us the disc errorbecause there's no OS installed,but that looks like we might actuallyhave a working MacBook.Now comes the fun ofreplacing the keyboard.Now there's nothingwrong with the keyboardthat's on this right now.However, it's the older white style,whereas what we ordered hereis a set of MacBook Pro keys,which should look a little cooler.There are a couple of waysof doing the keyboard swap,but what we did was we justremoved a bunch of the keysand swapped them out with the black ones,and if you really wantto go crazy with it,you actually can replacethe entire keyboardall in one piece,however, that requires youto basically take apartthe entire computer.If you guys caught our first video,one of the biggestproblems with this guy isthat not only is the backpanel a little scratched up,but there's also a crack inthe actual screen assembly.So while we could actuallyswap out the entire shell,that's also a lot of work,and instead, we can just cover it up.So this is a semi-transparent shell,so first of all, it'sgoing to look a lot nicerthan the scratched upbottom that we have here,but in addition to the keyboard cover,which we don't need, becausewe have a legit keyboard now,we also have a bottom shell for it.So while maybe this isn'tthe best-looking MacBookin the world, it's a lotbetter than it was before.But my real question iswhat exactly can you doon this MacBook in 2018?After using the MacBook for a week or so,I've got to say, it'sactually surprisingly usable.For normal stuff likelistening to Spotify,writing things up in Google Docs,and juggling a few tabs,it feels downright snappy.I'll totally admit using twoSSDs is complete overkill.So I wanted to run them both in RAID,however, the way that High Sierraactually handles RAID rightnow is a little bit buggy,so I ended up just installingthe OS to a single drive,but it still makes a huge difference.It's so much faster.Jumping up to eight gigs of RAMalso makes a big difference.MacOS, especially themost recent versions,really do appreciate at least eight gigs.One of my big worries going into thiswas that the Core2 Duo justwouldn't be able to hold up,and while yes, a processorfrom 2009 in a laptopdoesn't sound too impressive,when you actually run itthrough GeekBench, it's not bad.It's right up there withmodern day lower-end parts,such as Celerons and Pentiums.Now don't get me wrong.Throw more than a fewdifferent tasks at it at once,and it will definitely start to slow down,but as long as you treatit with the respectthat a 2009 MacBook deserves,you can definitely getwork done on this guy,and a big part of thatis because it is runninga fully up-to-date versionof MacOS High Sierra.Sure, who knows if it'll ever receiveanother major MacOS update,and some apps don't likethe Core2 Duo, but for the most part,it's just like using a modern MacBook.You're pretty much gettingall of the features,including iMessage and even Siri.What's especially impressive isthat even some high-endapps like Final Cut work,and I'm being serious.You can load up some 1080p video,4k is a little bit too muchfor the MacBook to handle,and even the most recentversion of Final Cut 10.4is actually able to handle it pretty well.Now you will need some patiencewhen it comes to therender side of things,but again, this is a 2009 MacBookthat I bought off of Ebay for $200,and I'm editing actual HD videoinside Final Cut, so yeah.While our keyboard swapreally isn't for anythingbesides show, it does still hold up today.So not only does ithave a lot more travel,but it just feels alittle bit more naturalthan the newer butterflyswitches in current MacBooks.I've also been pleasantlysurprised with the trackpad.Somehow, almost ten years later,this is still better thanmost Windows laptops.So you're getting everything you like,including that solid tracking,you're getting plentyof multi-touch gestures,like three fingers toswipe between spaces,and more importantly,it just feels natural,something that so manytrackpads do not get,especially when you'repaying $200 for them.Port-wise, while I do miss USB 3.0,Mini DisplayPort is niceif you want to go outto an external monitor, upto 2560x1600 in resolution,and MagSafe is stillone of my favorite waysof charging a laptop ever.Even with that fresh battery though,you shouldn't expect 2018levels of battery life.So I'm averaging about 3-4hours with moderate usage.You can get a little bit moreif you turn the screen brightness down,but it's just kind of okay.So should you go outand load a 2009 MacBookwith a terabyte of SSD storage?Probably not.But unlike a lot of our builds,this actually makes sense.Picking up a used MacBook andinvesting in some upgradeslike the battery, memory,as well as an SSD,really will get you an experiencethat's going to be betterthan a lot of budget laptops.Honestly, I would rather use this.So, what do you guys thinkabout our super awesomeultimate 2009 MacBook?This has actually takena turn I didn't expect,but it's actually kind of cool.Anyway, let me know what you guys think,and I will catch you in the next one.