7 ms·
I converted a Macbook into a PC
- userbinator 2y agoI thought "aren't MacBooks already PCs, at least between when they were PPC and before they started using ARM", but then this is actually an "engine swap".
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y agoThey are Personal Computers and I'm dying on that hill
- freitasm 2y agoYes! People who keep saying PC when they mean a Windows or Linux machine. As if the Apple machines weren't PCs too.
- userbinator 2y agoIt seems that in the Apple world, PC means "IBM PC-compatible".
- card_zero 2y ago> The designation "PC", as used in much of personal computer history, has not meant "personal computer" generally, but rather an x86 computer capable of running the same software that a contemporary IBM or Lenovo PC could. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC%E2%80%93compatible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC%E2%80%93compatible (Lenovo's mentioned because they bought IBM's PC division.) I remember being hugely confused by this when I first saw a PC, asked my friend what kind of computer it was, and got the answer "it's a PC". Like being told "it's a computer". Thanks?
- Gormo 2y agoThis is a fairly recent usage. Back in the day, the term was "IBM-compatible", then later, "Wintel". It wasn't common to treat the term "PC" as being exclusive of Apple hardware until Apple's "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ad campaign of the mid-2000s.
- card_zero 2y agoI think that date could be pushed back to at least 1995. Here's an article dated January 1996 about SoftWindows, for Mac, which uses phrases like "Mac and PC clipboards", "running PC programs", "playing PC games", and "PC sound cards". https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PCW%20199601%20January%20Created%20From%20PCW%20Cover%20CD/page/n74/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PC... Here also is an article about desktop publishing from 1990. https://archive.org/details/FinancialTimes1990UKEnglish/Sep%2004%201990%2C%20Financial%20Times%2C%20%2331242%2C%20UK%20%28en%29/page/n34/mode/1up?q=%22mac+and+PC%22 https://archive.org/details/FinancialTimes1990UKEnglish/Sep%... It talks about "running a Mac-based system and a PC-based system side by side", and how "some text and graphics files can be moved relatively easily between Mac and PC formats". Opposite is an advert for Toshiba's early IBM PC compatible laptops, bragging about winning awards from PC User magazine, which I don't think featured Macs. But when was any Mac ever called a PC? I don't think the Mac Plus, for instance, was called a PC at any point? SoftWindows was Windows bundled with x86 emulator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftPC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftPC, created in 1986. Note the PC in the name, apparently equivalent in meaning to x86 already. Maybe this was implicitly short for IBM PC Compatible, maybe the term PC was ambiguous back then, and for the next two decades, but I doubt it. (Clearly it is still somewhat ambiguous, though, or I'd have nothing to wrangle about here.)
- Clamchop 2y agoThe full phrase was "IBM PC compatible" and that dates back to the 1980s. And it was specific to the PC model. The PC was a new architecture and IBM was otherwise better known for their other products at the time. PC was established long before those Apple commercials.
- mewpmewp2 2y agoAdditionally I think in casual context PC has implication that it is the Desktop Computer and not a Laptop which is what the OP has.
- PittleyDunkin 2y agoI associate the term with something that descends from IBM PCs, which (thank god, for I abhor their usability) macs are not.
- rgreekguy 2y agoI'd even say MacOS is better for casual use out of the box than Windows.
- iluvcommunism 2y agoI like how he has the Apple logo light still working.
- alsetmusic 2y ago> I like how he has the Apple logo light still working. At the time, the logo was lit by the lights in the LCD. I had a friend who removed the display case and put rainbow plastic film in between to match the original six-colored logo.
- nullpoint420 2y agoWas just about to say this. Super creative way to light up the logo.
- reaperducer 2y agoSounds like a lot of work. I bought a sticker off of Etsy to do that.
- bimguy 2y agoIt's lit by the backlight in the LCD display. In other words, he didn't do anything extra.
- benatkin 2y agoSomeone generate a new AI version of the I'm a Mac, I'm a PC commercials based on this :)
- alsetmusic 2y ago> The Macbook is a 2010 17" so it would have been pretty easy to upgrade and repair (socketed Ram and HDD, screwed in battery) but the age would have made this laptop not only unusably slow but it was also dead as a doornail. Its [sic] one of the still good Macbooks with the glowing apple logo. This detail from the comments explains why they'd replace hardware rather than simply installing Linux as-is. I was a little perplexed until I saw this.
- userbinator 2y agoI'm more perplexed that a reasonably high-end system from 2010 would be considered "unusably slow". There are still many who are satisfied with less. I suppose it depends on what they intend to use it for.
- andai 2y agoI used a laptop from 2010 until recently (2022?). Only downside was some games and software wouldn't run due to minimum OpenGL level. I think I had to upgrade when I needed to use Blender.
- Koshkin 2y agoMy “late 2014” Mac Mini had indeed become unusably slow (before I installed Debian on it, that is).
- wtallis 2y agoIt's closer to a RPi 4 than RPi 5 for CPU performance, and neither GPU has much in the way of video transcoding hardware. Something as simple as 1080p60 H.264 playback may be beyond the capabilities of that machine.
- PittleyDunkin 2y ago> Something as simple as 1080p60 H.264 playback Where can you even find 60fps video of decent quality? That's framerate I associate more with gaming than video production. Surely 24fps is still the standard today? (I am very ignorant in this regard; please be kind.)
- tiffanyh 2y agoOT: what's the current best way to run Windows (guest) on Apple Silicon (macOS as host)? VMWare, UTM, Virtual Box, etc?
- aseg 2y agoIf you're looking to run a .exe file, there are a couple of hypervisors in the market (sometimes found on the high seas). I've tried these on a couple of obscure .exe files: - Parallels - VMWare fusion - Apple's gamekit Parallels has had the highest coverage, but they've locked down Parallels pretty well, and there is no way to outright own a copy of Parallels (monthly subscription). I think the gamekit project is the most exciting one of these three though!
- wtallis 2y agoParallels still offers a one-time purchase for the most limited edition. If you need to give VMs more than 8GB RAM then you'll need a subscription-only edition, but you can get pretty far with 8GB and 4 cores for a VM that's only running Windows 11 and one application.
- throawayonthe 2y ago[dead]
- tyronehed 2y agoWhy would you want to?
- ssklash 2y agoCome on man, this is hacker news! Because you can is always an acceptable answer!
- nopelynopington 2y agoPlenty of reasons. Joy. Nostalgia. Education. Bragging rights. Desire to reuse.
- bimguy 2y agoI notice that the bluetooth antenna is unplugged not sure if you're using the wifi/bluetooth card from the Mac.
- underseacables 2y agoI have a 2011 MBP running Mint and it works great. Not unreasonably slow at all. I wish the author had at least tried to use Linux, maybe it was the learning curve.
- ssklash 2y agoThe resulting laptop did have Linux installed, it's right there in the screenshot. The point of the post is showing how the modular nature of Framework boards can be used in all sorts of cool and unexpected ways.
- kelnos 2y agoThe author said the original hardware was dead, so I don't think it could run anything at all, at any speed.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sumuyuda 2y agoI was also running mint on a 2011 MacBook Pro. I bought it new in 2011 and used it until early 2023, then the GPU failed for the second time, which requires the logic board to be replaced. It’s a known hardware flaw which will impact all 2011 MBP models with a discrete GPU.
- tholm 2y agoFrameworks recent dig at "upgradeable" storage in the new m4 mac mini made me chuckle, upcycling an old macbook shell is even better.
- jalapenos 2y agoDoes anyone else get a horrible feeling inside when seeing these pointless hobby projects? Like, instead of buying a PC, spent many valuable hours doing this. Maybe it's just because they're time rich and I'm time poor. Perhaps it's similar to how a hungry person feels when they see a food fight on TV. Revelling in waste.
- hollerith 2y agoYes, but then I tell myself that everyone can benefit from stress-relief, and what works best for stress-relief will depend intricately on the individual.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- card_zero 2y agoDo we have important things to do with our free time instead, though? What alternative activity would have made you feel more comfortable? I guess maybe creating great art or curing cancer, but those things sound difficult.
- nine_k 2y agoCool, you've got free time. Cherish it. Best things in life are free; time is among them.
- card_zero 2y agoThis is true. I do ... acceptably well at securing free time. I seem to have anxieties about it all the same. I notice a lot of the songs I listen to are about time-anxiety, such as ''Got the time'' and ''Time has come today''.
- jalapenos 2y agoThis is no playing Call of Duty after a hard day of work though. This is work.
- 2y ago
- nopelynopington 2y agoAmazing work! Is there a longer write up on this somewhere? I'd love to know more about the project and process
- nopelynopington 2y agoI've wanted to do this same thing for quite some time, with even older hardware, but I'm not confident I could pull it off. I would love to turn an old PowerBook or an IBM era ThinkPad into a modern machine