Hello,
I recently found my Mom's old MacBook2,1 (13" Black Plastic Macbook, late 2006 Core 2 Duo revision. She'd stopped using it years and years ago, when it just stopped powering on one day, and wanted me to try to get the HDD out and the data off. I pulled the battery and plugged the laptop in, and it powered on just fine. The screen is dim, and the 4400 RPM HDD was even slower than I remember, so I'm sure at least the disk is dying or nearly dead. It stayed alive long enough for me to get a drive image off of it using a 2018 Mac mini, so mission accomplished there.
The Issue:
I had thought to try to refresh the computer a bit (mSATA SSD, more RAM), but I noticed when I pulled the HDD that there was something clear and sticky on it. I don't know if that's battery acid, capacitor juice, or some unholy combination of the two, and I don't have the equipment or skill to open it up and recap it and fully clean it, in any case. I'll also need to replace the battery if I want to use it without the power jack.
The liquid didn't have a particularly fishy smell, or a particularly strong smell at all.
(As creaky as it is, I'm also not sure how well the plastic would survive that level of disassembly, to be honest.)
Question:
If I did want to get this laptop fully restored (recapped, cleaned, replacement battery, etc.), what is the approximate price range I should expect?
I'm more curious if it's even worth trying to fix this thing. For example, an mSATA drive and SATA adapter would likely cost about $45. Once combined with shipping and service fees for repairs, I'm concerned I could easily spend more than this thing is worth. I know these particular machines are well-loved in the community, but all the videos I've seen about them are by people who were able to repair them themselves, which changes the value proposition.
I'd appreciate any advice.
I recently found my Mom's old MacBook2,1 (13" Black Plastic Macbook, late 2006 Core 2 Duo revision. She'd stopped using it years and years ago, when it just stopped powering on one day, and wanted me to try to get the HDD out and the data off. I pulled the battery and plugged the laptop in, and it powered on just fine. The screen is dim, and the 4400 RPM HDD was even slower than I remember, so I'm sure at least the disk is dying or nearly dead. It stayed alive long enough for me to get a drive image off of it using a 2018 Mac mini, so mission accomplished there.
The Issue:
I had thought to try to refresh the computer a bit (mSATA SSD, more RAM), but I noticed when I pulled the HDD that there was something clear and sticky on it. I don't know if that's battery acid, capacitor juice, or some unholy combination of the two, and I don't have the equipment or skill to open it up and recap it and fully clean it, in any case. I'll also need to replace the battery if I want to use it without the power jack.
The liquid didn't have a particularly fishy smell, or a particularly strong smell at all.
(As creaky as it is, I'm also not sure how well the plastic would survive that level of disassembly, to be honest.)
Question:
If I did want to get this laptop fully restored (recapped, cleaned, replacement battery, etc.), what is the approximate price range I should expect?
I'm more curious if it's even worth trying to fix this thing. For example, an mSATA drive and SATA adapter would likely cost about $45. Once combined with shipping and service fees for repairs, I'm concerned I could easily spend more than this thing is worth. I know these particular machines are well-loved in the community, but all the videos I've seen about them are by people who were able to repair them themselves, which changes the value proposition.
I'd appreciate any advice.
