What to do with an old laptop

[microwavetomatojuice]

Hey! I have an old laptop, which I don't know what to do with, and I need some ideas. It's an Intel Mac with only 2 thunderbolt ports and 500gb of storage. Initially, I wanted to use it as a home server, but it consumes quite a lot of energy, has only two ports and so little memory to use it as a server. Then I though of installing ElementaryOS on it, though, I don't have any use case for it as I have a main machine I use for everything: work, hobbies, and entertainment (which I cannot get rid of due to apps that are not compatible with linux). I'd be happy to hear ideas of how I can utilize that old laptop.

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

One idea (that I want to execute myself one day) would be to transform it into an terminal only electric typewriter to allow for undisturbed writing - possibly even w/o network drivers (although that might be bothersome if you want to transform your texts away - personally, I'd tend to use a terminal e-mail program to allow to send the texts away)

[Melooon]

For old mac laptops, my experience is that Linux distros don't work well, they have awful battery life, they can physically break the wifi card (irreparably, they burn it out, I've had to replace two), they don't play well with the retina screens apple use, and the trackpad and interface feel does not sit right.

It's hard to know exactly what laptop you have, but from the two thunderbold ports (I'm guessing C-Type?) it sounds like a late-teens Macbook Air? Those certainly don't use much power and would be fine as a home file server with some USB harddrives. You can look up exactly the specs here: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/index-macbook-air.html

However usually the best use for a computer is the use it was designed for; for a Macbook Air, that's writing and light graphics work. So I'd agree with Thunder on that front. What you've got is a great writing/blogging and web crafting computer, that's very portable, and that's what its gonna do best.

My personal recommendation would be to downgrade it to MacOS 10.13 or 10.14 (if its able), that restores 32bit support, meaning you can use a huge range of applications made between 2010-2020 that modern macs cant run at all; you can skim through the years here: https://macintoshgarden.org/year/2011 for downloads! For a browser: Momiji works great!

For at home use, the simplest thing is just to set the laptop up next to your main computer and use it for watching videos and side searches and things; it can also be helpful just to have a light computer for traveling that's not too much of a loss if it gets broken.

[microwavetomatojuice]

One idea (that I want to execute myself one day) would be to transform it into an terminal only electric typewriter to allow for undisturbed writing - possibly even w/o network drivers (although that might be bothersome if you want to transform your texts away - personally, I'd tend to use a terminal e-mail program to allow to send the texts away)

I’ve been thinking about a dedicated writing machine, though the process of transferring my text is gonna be a bit tedious, and I tend to use dictionaries a lot, so will need to think about that as well. Thanks for the idea, I might finally invest my time into it and eventually try it!

[microwavetomatojuice]

For old mac laptops, my experience is that Linux distros don't work well, they have awful battery life, they can physically break the wifi card (irreparably, they burn it out, I've had to replace two), they don't play well with the retina screens apple use, and the trackpad and interface feel does not sit right.

It's hard to know exactly what laptop you have, but from the two thunderbold ports (I'm guessing C-Type?) it sounds like a late-teens Macbook Air? Those certainly don't use much power and would be fine as a home file server with some USB harddrives. You can look up exactly the specs here: https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/index-macbook-air.html

However usually the best use for a computer is the use it was designed for; for a Macbook Air, that's writing and light graphics work. So I'd agree with Thunder on that front. What you've got is a great writing/blogging and web crafting computer, that's very portable, and that's what its gonna do best.

My personal recommendation would be to downgrade it to MacOS 10.13 or 10.14 (if its able), that restores 32bit support, meaning you can use a huge range of applications made between 2010-2020 that modern macs cant run at all; you can skim through the years here: https://macintoshgarden.org/year/2011 for downloads! For a browser: Momiji works great!

For at home use, the simplest thing is just to set the laptop up next to your main computer and use it for watching videos and side searches and things; it can also be helpful just to have a light computer for traveling that's not too much of a loss if it gets broken.

thanks for the reply!
I didn't know they don't get well with linux , thanks for letting me know before I did install it.

it's a 2019 i5 MacBook Pro, which overheats like crazy.
I have my main machine that's much lighter and more portable which I use for literally everything, so maybe yes, I should connect that old macbook to my second monitor and use it for casual browsing and writing. I'll look into downgrading it as Sequoia doesn't run well. Also, do you know where I can find any information on its power consumption? In case I'll try to use it as an occasional jellyfin server


**edit:** found the power consumption

[Còbra!]

There's OpenCore Legacy Patcher which lets you use more modern MacOS versions on older laptops. I used it to patch my 2012 MacBook to run MacOS Sequoia. I needed to install an SSD to make it run properly but aside from that, it works great.

Since it's an Intel laptop, you could also try Windows 98 Quick Install, which is a custom version of 98SE and ME that is patched to work on more modern systems. Your mileage may vary, though, but I think it's worth a shot if you want a retro battlestation!

[Melooon]

I used it to patch my 2012 MacBook to run MacOS Sequoia. I needed to install an SSD to make it run properly but aside from that, it works great.

A question about that! LCD font smoothing was removed in after 10.13 (the last official OS for non-retina macs); does the text not look cruddy on a 2012 running OpenCore? I remember even smoothed 10.10 font on a non-retina screen looked crappy compared to the Mavricks-era font that was made for low-res screens

EDIT: Also getting back on subject and to not confuse things, you can't install 10.13 on a 2019 mac, but you can do 10.14 (it would be its launch OS), an older OS can help run cooler, you can also just clean the inside and replace thermal paste. You don't need OpenCore on a 2019 mac, its still supported on the latest OS version officially.

[Còbra!]

A question about that! LCD font smoothing was removed in after 10.13 (the last official OS for non-retina macs); does the text not look cruddy on a 2012 running OpenCore? I remember even smoothed 10.10 font on a non-retina screen looked crappy compared to the Mavricks-era font that was made for low-res screens

Not at all. It looks fine to me. I never noticed anything looking off at all...

I forgot to mention that you could install a bigger hard drive or SSD in the Mac and dual boot with another OS. I actually Got Windows 11 installed on me, but it required a hack to make it ignore the RAM being "too low".
Windows 11 also runs fine on this Laptop, which I makes me question a lot about planned obsolescence...