Seriously, how do you talk about “still working perfectly” on a ten year old computer?

I got a MacBook here in 2007. It came with OS X Tiger. The built-in browser Safari cannot handle HTTPS websites. There were no updates (anymore). So in terms of software it is no longer this time.

Just the thing’s battery is dead. WiFi works flawlessly, audio works great, trackpad works great, keyboard works great, screen works great, microphone works great, camera works as you would expect from a 14 year old camera. Even the DVD burner still works fine. In terms of hardware, it’s still a great PC.

The solution? Replace your hard drive with a small, cheap SSD with Linux on it. A light version, there is only 2 GB of RAM (DDR) in the MacBook. Install Lubuntu 14.04 on it and migrate it to 16.04 and then to 18.04. As far as I understand, there is no longer a 32-bit version of Lubuntu 20.04 available.

The MacBook is still suitable for simple use. The Internet will work on it again and support it until 2023. Perhaps by that time there will still be a 32-bit Linux distro, which is also light enough. There may still be 32-bit BSD (FreeBSD / OpenBSD) available. Then the circuit is completed again (Apple OS is based on BSD).

Since I almost never turned on my MacBook anyway, I gave it to someone who could use it because their laptop and money were stolen from her house. At least she and her city nephew were able to participate in their online classes again.

If there was an easy and very inexpensive way to repair or replace the battery, a laptop would still be usable after 14 years of service.

I don’t think it’s too strange that Apple no longer supports that after 10 years. Continuing to support all these older devices indefinitely also means that they must also be tested on all of these variants before delivery. And so with every update.

You’re right, not in that, but if your hardware is properly maintained and treated normally, most hardware will last within the 10 years. If you are careful about your equipment, it can last more than 10 years. So the only software problem remains. And it seems that the companies/administrators behind (some) Linux distros are capable where the makers of the MacBook, a company with trillions of dollars up their sleeves, don’t want it.

In terms of security, TLS 1.2/1.3 support is a software issue. TPM is mainly a hardware issue (even if you want to simulate it, you still need some hardware). So this old MacBook isn’t that dangerous. “Still working perfectly”, this no longer applies in my case, just because of a broken battery. But for the rest, the thing still works as if it were new. Better than new, even because of the increased speed from the SSD.