A friend wants to gift me an old macbook pro he no longer uses. Specs follow:
MacBook Pro, Core i5, 2.8 GHz (I5-4308U), model A1502 (EMC 2875), Retina Mid-2014 13", MacBookPro11,1, RAM 8 GB, VRAM 1.5 GB, Storage 512 GB SSD
Out of principle I don’t use anything made by that brand and the only way I see myself using the hardware is if I can nuke the software and install any linux distro, ubuntu is the distro I know best.
Can it be done?
Any drawbacks?
It’s a model with a screwed aluminum case, meaning I cannot unplug the battery when I don’t need it. How long does it last?
Alternatively, what could I use this notebook for? Is there anything apple does better than linux that deserves I don’t nuke it?
Recently I followed this guide on my late 2013 retina MBP and ended up with a fully working system. Used the latest Ubuntu [edit: 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish] at the time. No hiccups that I recall. I’m not a Linux expert but I am familiar with installing and configuring Debian and Ubuntu. YMMV.
After letting the poor thing gather dust for several years, now I use it most every day.
https://medium.com/@vincentedwardcastro/installing-ubuntu-18-04-01-lts-on-late-2013-mac-book-pro-61d20e5e6230
Edit 2024-03-08 to clarify the release that I used