Our first foray into Appledom was a 2009 13" MBP I got for my wife. It still works just fine, but obviously has many limitations in 2025.
It’s got a Core 2 Duo, 4GB(!) DDR3 RAM, and an upgraded 500GB SSD. It has an ethernet port, 2 USB 2 ports, mini Displayport, Firewire 800, 3.5mm audio jack, SDHC Card slot and a still-functioning DVD drive. It is officially limited to El Capitan.
I’m no @ismh86 type collector (but then, who is?), but I am notoriously practical (a.k.a., cheap and an e-hoarder). Other than the obvious (video, or basic web apps), I’d like to be able to use it for something useful – storage and media network-related if possible, in lieu of a Synology, etc. I’ve never set up a real home network before, and I’m wondering if this can handle the work.
Any practical ideas for this old workhorse without having to put it out to pasture? I’ve transferred all of the data to a new user account on my MBP and iCloud. I don’t mind upgrading the RAM if I can still use it behind the scenes.
I kinda have this pipe dream of it being our little V-GER.
EDIT - I’ve never used Linux before, but I’m not afraid to try, if that would make a better file server
If you want to use it as a file server I would just leave macOS on it and turn on file sharing. Oddly, file sharing with Linux Mint is a bit flakey in my experience. Other versions of Linux may be easier.
If you want to use it as a full computer install Linux Mint. You’ll need ethernet because once installed you’ll likely need to update the wireless driver. With only 4GB of ram I would go with the Xfce option as it work better with less memory. I started with Mint on my 2012 Mini and it was fantastic but that was with 16gb of memory.
4GB isn’t much but with an SSD I’d guess it will work fairly well.
I am not sure if Legacy Patcher works on that model, but it may. If so, you can install a newer macOS that works with modern browsers etc.
Take a look here:
I’ve used Mac minis as servers for many years, and old Dell PCs before that. They don’t need a fast processor or much RAM for most home uses with few client computers on the LAN and no intended use as website on the Internet (BTW, a very bad idea).
You can use Screen Sharing if you need to log into it, which means you can keep the computer in a closet or some other out of the way place.
You can use it as a general purpose file server, a Plex server for media files, a server for backups (Time Machine, although I don’t find it particularly reliable, or something like Chronosync). You can use it as your own private cloud server using Resilio Sync. If you need more storage, OWC still sells Mercury Elite Pro single external hard drives with FW800 interfaces.
