Brand new apple macbook white

Hey guys, so check it out I've got another thread which I made earlier about my nostalgic, geek obsession with old or should I say classic laptops. I've always liked the MacBook White, the unibody from 2009 to 2011 but I never got to buy one brand new and the damn things are so fragile just about every one on the market, even the "mint" ones are cracked. My question is does Apple still stock the brand new parts for this model like the cases and the logic board and all the other stuff? My idea is to buy all the parts brand new and make my own brand new MacBook White (yay!). Is this possible though, regardless of price.

Thanks for any help

 

No they are no longer produced, all parts are salvage or generic copies.

 

I believe OEM parts for them were not available before they were discontinued. I was unable to even get a polycarbonate shell from Apple themselves about 4 months before they died out. anything now will be reproduction parts ( which are very hard to get as well ) or used/refurbished parts. Apple tends to not maintain a parts stock for a discontinued product too long after EOL as even the last MacBook Pro 17" OEM parts are no longer available now.

as for possible ... it would be but you may be looking at finding someone with a high end 3D Printer and that could get VERY expensive VERY fast. or spending a lot of time and money doing a proper weld/paint/refinish job.

 

damn that sucks, they're so gorgeous

 

You should just ask them. They will have some supply of parts, and since those were made until 2011, 3-year AppleCare folks are gonna expect to be able to get repairs. This year I had two *2006* MBPs serviced, and they had parts (I beat the parts cutoff by mere days).

 

If you're willing to drop some cash, ColorWare makes a Macbook Pro in all gloss white. Its about 400 bucks if you send in your own

 

$400??

Damn, wouldn't stripping the laptop's frame and painting it with some automotive paint (or whatever works on Al) be cheaper and just as good?

 

That's a lot of money for very very old hardware, which isn't going to even be genuine Apple hardware at this point, that's going to perform very very poorly by modern standards. Are you just nostalgic for the look? Because if that's the case, you can get an HP Chromebook 11 in gloss white for $279 and then have a brand spankin' new Retina MacBook Pro for serious work, all for less than the price of that cobbled-together White Macbook. Chromebooks aren't primary machines in my opinion, but as a secondary device for the kitchen counter, they're great...and HP copied the design of the old White Macbook pretty shamelessly (and pretty well).

 

Didn't those get recalled for overheating?

Also you could buy a cheap netbook for the same price and put Linux on it, you would get more functionality for the same price (and Google Chrome runs on Linux if you care)

This costs 100$ more, but you can do more things on it, not to mention 8 hours runtime and a touchscreen.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-11-3137/pd

 

The charger was defective and was overheating; the device itself was fine. They're showing back up in retail stores with a new charger. Given those circumstances, I wouldn't be worried about buying one of them with the new charger.

A cheap netbook doesn't have the "white Macbook" aesthetic that this thread is all about.

 

The HP Chromebook 11 would be the closest modern equivalent to the old, plastic MacBooks that Apple used to release. I absolutely hate the Chrome OS though as it requires you to be connected to the internet 24 hours a day. I guess that's fine as a secondary system for home use. I received one as a Christmas gift, tried to use it at my relative's house (who doesn't have the internet), and I had to end up using my iPhone as a hotspot to set it up and to even use it. Since I already had an iPad mini, I ended up returning the Chromebook and putting that money towards a nice pair of Bluetooth headphones. It just wasn't for me. I'm also not a fan of the Chrome browser and the Chrome OS interface is the browser. Then again, if all you want is a very simple machine that looks like a plastic white MacBook, that will be it.

I suggest you look at other stores too. OWC sells used white MacBooks in various conditions. A used model in a very good condition (whatever that means) will cost you $420. Getting one with more hardware (4GB of RAM, a larger HDD) will cost you less than $600. You can also check local Mom & Pop Mac/PC shops. There are some dedicated to Apple systems while there shops that work with all platforms. They often sell units that people bring in, are declared dead, they sell them to the shop owners, get a discount on a new computer, then the old system is refurbished and sold in-store at a profit. I visited a local Apple, private shop where I lived and they had quite a few white MacBooks for sale. They even had white 12" iBooks for $150 and the old colored iBooks for $75. They had Mac Pro G5 systems, the colored Mac Pro G3 systems, and all sorts of other older hardware. It might be worth a shot to look in the Yellow Pages and see if there is a local store like that.

There's also a chain called Microcenter. The stores aren't everywhere but their local stocks often have older Mac systems. My local Microcenter has two white MacBooks for sale, they even have a quad-core 17" MBP still for sale (and it's new). So there are other options aside from eBay. Just keep in mind that you will be paying a lot ($450-$575) for hardware that is outdated and should cost you a maximum of $50. You are paying a lot because these are older systems that still work, maybe have newer hardware/components (like RAM or the battery), and are in a generally good condition. An Asus, Acer, Dell, Toshiba, HP, etc. system with these same specs would be about $50-$100.

 

As far as I know Apple still stocks replacement parts for MacBooks up to at least 5 years old. They still replace display housing and top case for 2008 MacBooks where the wrist pad and screen basel chips near the edge, had one done 6 months ago

Just a month ago I brought in to the Apple Store a 2009 Unibody Macbook with cracks on both hinges and a crack on the LAN port. Those are known issues as per EM297 and EM380 and Apple can replace the faulty parts at no cost.

So if you come by a 2009/2010 with good screen and internal parts you could get the outside replaced at no cost if there are cracks in the right places. As with everything your mileage may vary...

This is from the Work Authorisation email I received from Apple.

_____________________________________
Problem Description/Diagnosis

Issue: Customer states display hinge is cracking and topcase cracking.
Steps to Reproduce: Visual inspection confirmed
Proposed Resolution: Replace display housing and topcase and cover cost as per EM297 and EM380
Cosmetic Condition: Cracks on hinge and topcase near Ethernet port.
Estimated Turn Around Time: We'll call you in 3 - 5 days
Mac OS Version: 10.9
Hard Drive Size: na
Memory Size: na
iLife Version: 11
Contact Apple Support Case: ###########

Employee ##########

Repair Estimate
Item Number Description Price Amount Due
076-1408 Display Housing Kit, with Bezel $ 92.00 $ 92.00
661-5396 Housing, Top Case, with Keyboard, without Trackpad, US $ 95.27 $ 95.27
S1490LL/A Hardware Repair Labor $ 39.00 $ 39.00
Tax $ 27.15
Total $ 226.27 $ 253.42
_____________________________________