MacBook Pro (2010) | Can You Still Use It in 2026?

This is it. This is where it begins (again). I had forgotten how much fun it is to thoroughly explore a device, write a script, create shotlists and film them accordingly, and then get completely immersed in Resolve and spend ungodly amount of time deciding the perfect frame where to cut it.

When I got this device, I already had a plan for a short video – I was thinking of a heroic success story. Get a laptop, buy a battery, plonk it in, put on Linux and voilà – there’s your new everyday laptop. But it wasn’t as simple as I thought. A busted old piece of junk that doesn’t work as a laptop – why would anybody watch that?

However, the troubleshooting process (which was accompanied by my gradual descent into madness over the course of two months) could have been presented as a story, so I hope that the video was as interesting to watch for you as it was to make for me. Even if the end result wasn’t what I wanted, I wanted to provide valuable key takeaways and leave the viewer satisfied – and I think that by going through a neatly made list, you can get an idea of how usable a 2010 laptop on 2021 software really is.

If you have a similar laptop, but with a working battery – this is what you can expect. Even if you can’t daily-drive it yourself, it could still be a great hand-me-down for kids, parents, friends, or you could set it up as a media server or something.

Side note: damn, filming a process of doing something with your hands (in this case, repairing hardware or showcasing software) is much harder than it looks! So many shots were ruined by my big ol’ head o’ hair, or my shoulder blocking the view entirely. Or when you put the SD card into your PC and realize that the entire shot was out of focus. I have endless respect for channels like DankPods and similar who use the “talking hands” format – they have found a setup that works (probably after many, many trials and errors), and execute it flawlessly. I have a lot to learn in this regard.

Similarly, filming computer screens is way harder than phones, as it turns out – color grading, moire, and blown out highlights. For example, in some shots, the color blue was completely gone from the screen (for example, Fedora logo is not black and white, despite how it might look in my video!). Another thing to improve in future videos.

Please let me know what you think here or in YouTube comments. Did you find it useful? Was it fun for you? What could I improve? Vot did jū sink ebaut mai bjūtiful ingliš eksent?