Over the years I’ve owned and collected a lot of old MacBooks and Apple hardware. Friends upgrade and end up giving me their old MacBooks, I grab deals here and there when I see MBP’s basically being given away.
I’ve always love the minimalist style of them and the well-polished design that goes into their hardware.
As time goes on, it can be a bit frustrating when Apple drops support for them because the hardware itself is usually still very performant and modernly decent. That whole “forced upgrade” cycle can be a biotch. Consumerism at its finest. But, that’s a rant for another post.
In this write-up, I’m going to show you how to take your old MacBook Pro and upgrade to the most modern version of Mac OS and continue using it for whatever you want.
To accomplish this mission, we’re going to be using a great community project called Open Core that works by patching the MacBook system and allowing you to bypass some of the software issues relating to “jumping versions” in major Mac OS updates. For this specific, I’ll do an exact walk-through, but it works with a variety of models and with some slight adjustments to the steps you can use this guide as a handy reference to getting your old Mac hardware dialed in.
MacBook Pro – Early 2011 Model with 16GB RAM, 2.8Ghz CPU, 512GB (SATA) HD
During this upgrade, I’m also going to update the old SATA platter drive with a new 2TB Lexar SSD drive, which will dramatically boost the system’s overall quickness and transfer speeds. This results in a much snappier machine overall and the difference is noticeable in every MBP I’ve done this with.
Check your system’s compatibility on the Open Core Supported Models page.