TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,980
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
That's one way to fight e-waste.
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There's a cheeky allure to the whole hackintosh thing. The idea of turning a Mac (a famously unupgradable and walled-off device) into something Frankenstein-esque is a nerdy joy, and this person who fitted their '06 MacBook with Framework embodies that cheekiness.
As they say, it's "a reimagined classic, that's only a little bit janky".
You might be wondering, 'Why an '06 MacBook? Does it have specific dimensions that might work?' The answer is 'just because and no', in that order. It turns out that Edoogg, the person behind the Framebook, just liked this specific model of MacBook as "it was one of the only MacBooks you could get in black besides the PowerBook G3."
The project started with a handful of A1181 first-generation 13.3-inch MacBooks bought on eBay.
"They were all pretty beat up and didn't have their batteries, nor did they power on."
Turns out that they were so busted that "pretty much all of the parts of the Mac I discarded, since they didn't work and even on their own, aren't worth a lot if I did sell them."
So, the final project has a Framework Laptop 13 motherboard with an Intel Core i7 1280P, plus 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, and an MND307DA1-9 CSOT display. They also threw in a USB hub, 8 MP camera, a Framework laptop speaker kit, and a USB 2.0 expansion module.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
To get the MacBook's shell working with the internals, they had to solder a USB cable to the keyboard and trackpad, which they did successfully on the first try, until they accidentally yanked the cable and tore the solder pads off the case's PCB. Luckily, a new case and a second solder fixed the issue.
As with any good DIY project, there's a healthy amount of super glue in Edoogg's build, with an old, dead MacBook battery (sans battery cells) stuck in the middle of empty space and an I/O shield being shoved onto the side to accommodate new ports in the shell. Edoogg even stuck that USB hub in the case itself to hook up the motherboard to the rest of the internals.
Impressively, Edoogg even managed to get the Apple light on the back glowing, by ordering a custom-made 7x7x0.28 cm LED which was (you guessed it) super-glued on the back and plugged into the USB hub.
The finished product is a relatively new motherboard inside a two-decade-old ma...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
There's a cheeky allure to the whole hackintosh thing. The idea of turning a Mac (a famously unupgradable and walled-off device) into something Frankenstein-esque is a nerdy joy, and this person who fitted their '06 MacBook with Framework embodies that cheekiness.
As they say, it's "a reimagined classic, that's only a little bit janky".
You might be wondering, 'Why an '06 MacBook? Does it have specific dimensions that might work?' The answer is 'just because and no', in that order. It turns out that Edoogg, the person behind the Framebook, just liked this specific model of MacBook as "it was one of the only MacBooks you could get in black besides the PowerBook G3."
The project started with a handful of A1181 first-generation 13.3-inch MacBooks bought on eBay.
"They were all pretty beat up and didn't have their batteries, nor did they power on."
Turns out that they were so busted that "pretty much all of the parts of the Mac I discarded, since they didn't work and even on their own, aren't worth a lot if I did sell them."
So, the final project has a Framework Laptop 13 motherboard with an Intel Core i7 1280P, plus 64 GB of DDR4 RAM, and an MND307DA1-9 CSOT display. They also threw in a USB hub, 8 MP camera, a Framework laptop speaker kit, and a USB 2.0 expansion module.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
To get the MacBook's shell working with the internals, they had to solder a USB cable to the keyboard and trackpad, which they did successfully on the first try, until they accidentally yanked the cable and tore the solder pads off the case's PCB. Luckily, a new case and a second solder fixed the issue.
As with any good DIY project, there's a healthy amount of super glue in Edoogg's build, with an old, dead MacBook battery (sans battery cells) stuck in the middle of empty space and an I/O shield being shoved onto the side to accommodate new ports in the shell. Edoogg even stuck that USB hub in the case itself to hook up the motherboard to the rest of the internals.
Impressively, Edoogg even managed to get the Apple light on the back glowing, by ordering a custom-made 7x7x0.28 cm LED which was (you guessed it) super-glued on the back and plugged into the USB hub.
The finished product is a relatively new motherboard inside a two-decade-old ma...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?