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Model A1181: 1.83, 2, 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.2, or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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Is it possible to upgrade a MacBook late 2007

I have a core 2 Duo MacBook late 2007 version, is there a possibility of upgrading it so that I can download & use the latest Mac OS X version. I cannot upgrade the software beyond Snow Leopard.

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EFI & SMC firmware updates are already installed. I have 4 GB RAM & a 128 GB Kingston SSD installed. I tried to download Mavericks, it does not accept it. Can you help me.

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OK, lets backup here … You took your HD out and just put in this SSD in correct? And you don't have any system software on it correct?

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ok i need o know already seriously i hate when people only do half comments how do i update the mac book 2007 model what the &&^& do i do to update it to the newest iOS

step by step

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I have successfully installed Ubuntu 16.04 on this machine following the this tutorial and it works quite well now : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIsF96jx...

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Thank you, but video is private.

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Your system should be able to support the newer OS's (most of the Core 2 Duo systems are 64bit clean). Don't forget to upgrade your current apps as well here (if they are 32bit).

You'll need to do a few things here to upgrade to Lion.

  • Upgrade the RAM to 4 GB Note: Not all of the RAM will be accessible to the OS (only 3 GB). But its best to use two 2 GB modules (matched pair) Vs a mix of one 1 GB and one 2 GB module.
  • Get an external HD to copy over all of your stuff as you will need to reformat your current HD (requires a different format type). You may think about upgrading the HD to a larger unit if you have 250 GB or smaller HD. Note: your systems HD SATA I/O is SATA I (1.5 Gb/s) make sure if you get a new drive it is able to run at this speed. Many newer HD's have a jumper to set to the lower SATA speed.

Consider the costs (RAM & HD), the time, and if your current system will suit your needs for a couple more years, before starting your project.

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Well some one needs to tell Apple that Review this TN System requirements for OS X Lion and Mac OS X v10.6

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Here are the system requirements for Mountain Lion, and as you can see they omit A1181s. It's actually a GPU requirement that keeps Mountain Lion and higher from working on white MacBooks. Believe me, I deal with hundreds of these machines a month. You should change/delete your post, because you're giving people bad information.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5444

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rdklink its one thing to correct someone but when its clear they mis-spoke you don't need to ram it home. There is nothing wrong with what is written here.

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No offense, but I don't agree that there is nothing wrong -- you state that you "need" to do 3 things to upgrade to Lion, but in fact none of those 3 things need to be done at all. 1) Lion requires 2GB, not 4GB. 2) You don't need to upgrade the A1181 firmware to go to Lion. 3) You don't need an external hard drive to an upgrade. You are sending someone who doesn't know any better in a lot of wrong directions.

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I'm reading this from a MacBook late 2007 (4gb ram), I have Yosemite, it works fine.

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I happened to glance at this question when it was at the top of the page and felt I might be able to clarify a little bit. It wasn't entirely clear if the user who originally asked the question had an answer that was clear. For the benefit of any others who might have this issue as well, I wanted to see if further input might help.

Question: Does the Late 2007 MacBook support the latest version of OS X (Mavericks)?

Further, if not, what is the latest version that it does support and how can I go about attaining it?

Simple Answer: No. Unfortunately, your system will not support OS X Mavericks. The most recent version of OS X that you can install is Lion.

Detailed Answer: From your question, I gathered that you already have the Mac App Store. If that is correct, you can purchase OS X Lion by calling 1-800-MY-APPLE for $19.99. You will get a content code that you redeem in the Mac App Store that will allow you to download and install the upgrade.

Advice: I kept my 2006 MacBook Pro for 6 years before upgrading. At that point, the $3000 investment had cost less than $500 per year. That's like buying a low-end laptop that's never as user-friendly and making the transition every single year. At the end of those 6 years it was still a very capable computer. With any Mac of its age that is still in use, it is typically safe to presume that it has served its purpose well for many years.

That said, the reason we look to upgrades like SSD's and our OS is because the the content that we are consuming is becoming more life like and intuitive. As the content grows larger and more complex the platform that you use to view it has to advance with it. As the platform, be it a plug in like Adobe Flash or your entire operating system, is advancing the hardware has to work harder to keep up.

That concept is rather simple, if not for technical reasons then because it's a life cycle we've all experienced with all the products we buy throughout our lives. The missing link, I believe, develops in the many layers between what we eventually consume and the hardware that enables it.

Your MacBook is, effectively, as up to date as it will ever be from a hardware standpoint. You can't upgrade the processor, you have the most memory your system supports, and you've upgraded to an SSD. From a software standpoint, you're able to take a step forward but even then it's to an operating system that is no longer supported with updates that help it change and adapt to the ever changing content it is used to consume and the ever evolving threats that may be encountered to get in the way.

It's safe to say that your Mac is, fortunately yet unfortunately, living past the end of its product lifecycle. As the content, plug-ins, and OS's continue to advance, your system is no longer able to adapt and maintain compatibility. If all that you use the system for is to interact with the current versions of the applications that are on it, I've encountered individuals who are still using Mac hardware over 12 years old. With regard to content from the internet, however, the portion that your system can access will only decrease from here on out.

So one can assume that you most likely got years of above average performance from a system that has turned out to be quite a value. Although now might not be the best time to consider doing so, replacing it will be a better value for your money and definitely your time. While you might now be able to buy a new Mac for less than $800, the broad majority of tasks you may have performed on the MacBook are possible on a $500 iPad. A new iPad has the benefit of being more portable, more powerful, and built with today in mind.

Just some food for thought. I hope that I was able to be helpful.

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I have a late 2007 (or very early 2008) white A1181 laptop (1.5.8 or 1.89.5, can't remember which as I'm not at home where it's located)

Very easy to load in Lion os, but because (I'm told) of the graphic card, can't install anything higher. This is fine for me as most of the DOCK stuff is redundant and later versions are even more so. Also was told not to invest in SSD. I wouldn't get full benefit of the new drive. May or may not be true - I'll check further.

Now - please don't talk about technology versus an old machine. My "old" apple has features which let ME work on it. I can install most anything under the covers that I wish.

Newer Apples may be skinny and fast but they no longer have a cd drive (I do have that). The battery is hardwired to the motherboard, etc. The user is either forced into the shop or where the price of a repair might be more than the user is willing to pay, force the owner into purchasing a new Apple. Which , of course, is a really intimidating marketing ploy.

Renee

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Did you have a specific question?

I'd still recommend upgrading to an SSD if you are looking for increased performance. As long as you don't require lots of storage, an appropriate SSD could give you exponentially better storage performance for not much money. Today, a 120GB drive can be had for around $60.

Your system has SATA 1, capable of transmitting 150MB per second. The standard hard drive in your system can transfer as much as 40MB/s while a budget model SSD can achieve closer to 450MB/s. Would the SSD reach it's full potential, no. To make it even better, a 300%+ increase in transfer speed isn't even the best part.

Most of the tasks performed by the average user require thousands if not millions of tiny file transfers. The hard drive that came with your system can perform between 50 and 100 transfers per second. The same budget SSD can perform between 55,000 and 85,000. That means start ups in less than half the time and applications that launch nearly, if not, instantly.

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"Thirty two sixty four for Mac OS X" search that in Google, you can run Mavericks and Yosemite on any unsupported mac with at least a core duo processor, just down load the software and follow the directions. And FYI you can install windows 10 on any Intel mac.

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@Monstrosity - You're talking about a Thunker service which thunks the 64 bit app to 32bit. Not really such a great way to go, sorry ;-{ The problem here is you are going to take two clock cycles to process the request vs the one a 64bit app takes. Yes, the memory foot print is less, but the time it takes is over twice as long (a slow box going slower!)

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Chris, while your answer is interesting from a "philosophical" point of view it does not answer the question.

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Lion is the most current OS you can put on a 2007 white A1181 with a Core 2 Duo processor. You only need 2GB to run Lion. A Core Duo processor will only work with Snow Leopard.

You will not be able to install Mavericks or Mountain Lion, and even if you could get those on the laptop, performance would be an issue.

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"Thirty two sixty four for Mac OS X" search that in Google, you can run Mavericks and Yosemite on any unsupported mac with at least a core duo processor, just down load the software and follow the directions. And FYI you can install windows 10 on any Intel mac.

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Um, well, that's just wrong -- sorry. Don't believe everything you read. Reading it on Google does not trump actual experience. I challenge you to take a Core Duo A1181 and get Yosemite onto it using Apple-supported methods.

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I have a core 2 duo 2.33ghz MacBook Pro 2,2 running OS X 10.8 and I have a Macbook 4,1 core 2 duo 2.4 ghz running it as well, both were installed with sfott software Avalible for free from their website, for the most part it runs fine but if you gotta go online safari trips out, so not really worth it if you go online but if your not going online it works great.

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SFoTT does not work with 32bit processors, only 32bit EFI boot code. The processor itself still needs to support 64bit code. See reference: "I afraid you won’t succeed as you have a Core duo. You need at least Core 2 Duo with 64 bits capabilities." from http://oemden.com/sixty-four-on-thirty-t... for more information.

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Again, this discussion is about the 2007 A1181 white MacBook. You have a Pro, which is a different machine entirely. Nobody is disputing that you can put a current OS on a Core 2 Duo aluminum Pro. You don't even need to hack it -- current OSs are supported on most Core 2 Duo aluminum Pros.

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I sell Macbook duo cores on Craigslist. Most I load Snow Leopard on with a SSD but I dual boot Windows 10 and or a version of Linux. These machines tend to only have 2gb ram and run better with Windows or Linux then OS X. Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion are no longer supported by Apple. While the hacks can get you to Mavericks or beyond unless its a Macbook Pro I just wouldn't.

Google reFind. Use it and Linux distros like MINT or Ubuntu or Arch and try them out. Take note of CPU and Ram use. Its lower then OS X. If you don't want to go through the hassle of making your Linux install look like OS X use distros like Elementary OS or Zorin or Pear OS. Windows requires extra drivers. Check out the Bootcamp updates or find drivers for sound, etc. on-line. On a budget? These units are around $50.00 on Ebay. A 128 SSD is $40.00 or less. Some have 4gb ram.

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If you mean Macbook White late 2007 so you can do upgrade to Lion 10.7.5, but if you want to do some geek trick you can upgrade it to Yosemite as I do. There is many tutorial you'll find on internet how to force upgrade unsupported OS to your MB white. I already try Mountain Lion, Maverick and Yosemite on my MB White late 2007. And yes it is just wasting your time because your hardware won't run optimal on those OS. So stay on Lion or Snow Leopard.

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I agree you can put up to OS X 10.10 on almost any supported mac including a white MacBook 2007, and it works fine. The graphics are a little dodgy but for the most part it's fine, I even got the Internet to work right.

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Hi, i have macbook 2007 white and i have install on it Yosemite with mac post factor,but the mac is very slow,ha e a problem with the graphic,forse Exemple the game than i play with lion is all' fine ,with Yosemite the game ha e a low framerate,i have read in this discussion than there are utents than have installa Yosemite fine,how have we doing it?yosemite Whitout error ?

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I used MACPOSTFACTOR on my MB White late 2007 and the system become impossible to use. Poor graphics. Poor internet using.. Thinking about some graphics adjustments, but is not usable.. I don't recomend this upgrade.. Using OS x 10.7.5 actually and it is going well..

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While Apple only supports up to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion officially on the late 2007 MacBook, using the help of MLPostFactor, you can install up to OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion unofficially.

Just beware that there might be some issues due to the incompatibility of newer OS software on officially unsupported hardware.

Now MacPostFactor will allow the installation of OS X 10.8.5 on our older unsupported MacBooks. It can also install 10.9 but without accelerated graphics, so I wouldn't recommend it.

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Hi, thanks... and is that the case for early 2007 MacBooks too, do you know? Mine's model identifier is 2,1

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According to the macrumors.com post: "MacPostFactor Mountain Lion 32-bit supports the following Macs -MacBook2,x -MacBook3,x -MacBook4,x ..." so it should be able to help you install Mountain Lion on all but the original early 2006 MacBooks (MacBook1,1).

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I had serious problems on my 2007 macbook pro when I upgraded from Mavericks to Yosemite, so I had to go back to Mavericks. The computer worked fine and, as I was considering purchasing another macbook, I decided to try to upgrade to El Capitan as a last attempt to keep this workhouse of a computer. To my surprise, I saw that the app store allowed me to download the upgrade and I figured I had nothing to lose. I thought everything was going to freeze up and not work, but everything worked perfectly. Please note, that I do not use any processor (graphics or otherwise) intensive programs and use this computer mostly for email, web browsing and excel work. Therefore, I would not do the upgrade if you intend on using any programs that work fine on the current OS you are running. That being said, the best thing about the upgrade is that it gave this old horse new life and allowed me to use imessage, as well as pick up phone calls from my iphone, on the laptop. I was surprised it work. Now, I'm wondering if I should upgrade the hard drive to an SSD, along with replacing the superdrive which died two years ago, and try to get another two years out of this bad boy. I hope this post helps.

Update (09/30/2016)

Upgraded the hard drive to a Crucial MX300 275GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive - CT275MX300SSD1 - 256 gigs and am loving it. As you stated, the SSD change was not dramatic but it did speed it up just enough to get another few years from this bad boy. Thanks.

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FYI - Model Number A1226

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The A1226 is a workhorse even by todays standards. A SSD will speed things up but not dramatically but you will notice a difference. You can replace the superdrive. I would have the SSD in the main bay and use a 7200rpm mechanical hard drive in the Superdrives place. Make sure you buy the correct internal caddy for it. It was a pain to remove the Superdrive so be careful.

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mine is working fine with yosemite ...

Macbook pro late 2007 / 2Gb RAM / Original HD........

edit : it's my first mac, found in a garbage, no modifications yet. I'll try with 4Gb and a SSD when i'll have the money to buy.

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Same here. Except I didnt find mine in the garbage :)

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Im with these guys...

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Yes, but this conversation is about A1181s (white non-unibody MacBooks), and your laptop is an aluminum Pro -- totally different animal.

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it was an A1181 (was because it had the graphical defect ... and this time, i wasn't able to revive it...)

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There are hacks such as Macpostfactor and others that can be used to place Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosmite and even El Captain on unsupported Macbooks, iMacs and even older machines. Look on Youtube for instructions. Many users have have great success with these methods.

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Newer versions of OSX are not going to always run well on unsupported Macs. Don't get me wrong they work but these older machines simply lack the graphic cards to always do well. Nothing run with trying the hacks though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uESlYP1u... Personally I'd go with Linux. Elementary OS runs fine on these machines. This is cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sR-uMTc...

Unless you have Apple software you have to run I'd move on.

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This is the best answer -- it's awesome that there are still black Macbooks ticking and for the nostalgia alone they seem worth running but the only thing they're going to run decently is a trimmed down version of linux. Even mainstream versions of Ubuntu are too resource intensive to run well. And although these OSes will run on a black macbook with a traditional HDD (not SSD) and something below 4GB RAM, it's still going to be best to upgrade what you can on it to get baseline performance.

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Even without an SSD, I think Windows 10 runs fine on these machines, even with only 2GB of RAM. Sure, it won't be a speed demon, but it is fine for most basic uses. It still plays older and more basic games just fine.

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One could also clone the current hard drive to a SSD (Solid State Drive) which would result in no need to re-install any OS, and since SSD's have no moving parts to fail they are more robust then clunky old drives. SSD's will also make the battery last longer since they use much less power to operate, waking up from sleep is also much faster. I use them in everything I can.

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You can use OS X 10.7 (lion). That is very similar to ML.

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You can use clover too boot and download the .app from the app store using Virtualbox you need 4GB and a iso of MacOS. Also the keyboard and touchpad don't have a driver. Also there's a guide on tonymacx86 for 10.12 beta.

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I have a Macbook Pro 2.33 late 2006 with SSD, so still pretty fast with Snow Leopard. I find Lion a bit slow compared to Snow Leopard. Would like to try Mountain Lion due to compatibility with a few of my apps.

People have mentioned that Safari doesn't work well with Mountain Lion. Is it only Safari, or all browsers?

Not a deal breaker, as I use Firefox anyway.

So, how does Mountain Lion run on that Macbook Pro? Faster than Lion but slower than Snow Leopard?

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There are hacks to get the Macbook Pro 2006 to Sierra but El Captian might be fine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a6tSGUz...

Snow Leopard was good for its day but I wouldn't want to use anything older then Yosmite. Safari will usually work best with more current versions of OS X. By the Sierra is possible on the Macbook Pro 2 So don't bother with Mountain Lion in my view. A cool thing to check out is how well Windows 10 runs on that system as well as versions of Linux. The SSD was a smart move.

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Thanks for the info.

I installed Mountain Lion, which was incredibly easy thanks to the people who made Mac Post Factor. Runs quite well. No incompatibilities so far. Faster than Lion. I don't think it is as fast as Snow Leopard, but the difference is tiny.

Another plus is that it seems to have improved 2 key functions vs. Snow Leopard: namely, trackpad accuracy and Airport connection.

The trackpad seems to work more smoothly and accurately. Not as much as recent OS like El Capitan and Mavericks, which I use on other Macs, but more than Snow Leopard and Lion.

I was always irritated by the poor wifi connection with SL and Lion. Weaker signal, in the same room, vs. other OS, and irritating loss of connection after the MB Pro woke from sleep. The connection seems more stable and stronger now with ML.

I don't think I want to try El Capitan on this machine. I've seen a definite slowdown going from Mavericks to Yosemite to El Capitan on less powerful Macs (2010 Macbook Pro, 2011 Macbook Air).

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try a virtual machine and a Linux disto like Lubuntu or Arch. World of difference. Even Windows 10.

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well, I believe the original subject was intended to cover the late 2007 mac 3.1 firmware whitebook. that being said, some in here have indicated that an upgrade to later than Lion is possible. Honestly, I would like to be able to do this. I don't have a need for graphics as I am blind, so that shouldn't be an issue. does anyone happen to have the method I can use to get around the GPU requirement in t. Lion or later? I simply do not have the income to afford even a refurbished later model (not even a low end mac mini).

thanks.

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I haven't tried a blind installation of MacOS before, but MacPostFactor makes the installation of 10.8 (Mountain Lion) as painless as it could possibly be. You would need to have 10.7 (Lion) installed first and have both the 10.8.5 installation app ($20) and an empty 8GB USB drive ($5?) handy in order to accomplish the installation.

All that being said, it might seem blasphemous to Apple fans, but be a smarter move to switch to Windows 10 (though a bit more installation hassle) as it runs well on even the original MacBook and should continue to get vital security updates whereas Apple has already stopped supporting 10.8 for quite a while now.

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While I love MacOS these older machines just aren't really designed to work well with the most current versions of OS X or MacOS. Yes you can get Mountain Lion , Mavericks or Yosemite to work but I suggest Linux or the nice, CloudReady. https://www.neverware.com/freedownload/

Here is a link to its use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sR-uMTc...

Windows 10 32 bt also runs well. A cheap SSD can be added for under $30.00. So unless you simply have to use OS X or MacOS. Try Linux or Windows or the great Cloudready. Linux and Cloudready are both free.

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I have an a1186 Mac Pro, I would like to upgrade further than 10.7.5 can anyone help me with that.

OS 10.7.5

8GB memory

500gb sata HD

2.66 intel Xeon processors

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Hello sir I have macbook 2007 model I remove os and installEd winods on but yet I wanted to return I think os lion will run but I can't not get it in boot file on pakistan

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You'll need to buy it from someone online ($20.00 US), Apple no longer offers it.

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I have a late 2007 MacBook I would like to completely update it to this year how can I do that because this MacBook is not supported by apple anymore and I really love this MacBook please HELP

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Mac fan Indian will be eternally grateful.
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