I remember these Macbooks did tend to break apart at the corners of the palmrests.
But I like the idea of re-visiting Macbook plastic chassis w/ new inside.
I would love to know what the weight is in the end.
Can the old Macbook chassis lead to a lighter weight computer than the current 1.23kg Macbook neo and Macbook air?
> I remember these Macbooks did tend to break apart at the corners of the palmrests.
Not the corners for me, but the "feet" of the topcase digging into the palmrest, which would splinter the plastic, then you'd have holes in the case and jagged plastic splinters digging into your wrist as you typed, not enjoyable.
This: https://ismh.s3.amazonaws.com/2014-02-24-macbook-topcase.jpg is exactly what mine had, on both sides.
Shame because it was the last macbook that was really easy to upgrade: the battery was removable (with a simple lock), and behind it were the RAM and 2.5" drive slots.
The next generation was not that hard but you had to unscrew the entire bottom shell, and the battery was glued.
Unscrewing the bottom on the generations after this gave you access to nearly everything. Which was vastly superior for most repairs. Getting to the logic board or AirPort card on the polycarbonate MacBook took significantly longer. For the Bluetooth motherboard you had to remove the display cable, optical drive and HDD.
That’s what happened to my 2006 Core Duo MacBook after about three or four years of use. It was an excellent laptop that was quite user-serviceable (I upgraded the RAM and hard drive), but I did have problems with the palmrests, and the Ethernet port stopped working after four years.
It was my first Apple laptop and I have fond memories of using it during my college years.
I had one of those machines in university too and had the same stained/cracked palmrests. That said, I also paid for extended AppleCare and had the whole top case swapped for free multiple times throughout the three years that the coverage lasted.
When I was a broke student I would buy MacBooks with broken palm rests for a discounted price, drop them off at Apple for a free repair (under extended warranty) and flip them for a profit. Three hours of my time turned into €100 profit. Minimum wage was €6/hour back then.
Did the same years later buying up first gen iPod Nano and trading them in for sixth gen because of the battery recall.
The plastic by the trackpad would turn pink as well from my sweaty hands. Good times.
From all those long sessions playing Call of Duty and Quake 4!