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?
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?
Considering that it’s a 10-year old battery, it would’ve already degraded significantly, even if it wasn’t being actively used. If battery life is important to you, you should first consider getting a replacement battery.
As to how long it’ll last, that can only be answered by you as it depends on which distro you’re going to use, what DE/apps you’ll run, and your actual usage patterns/workload.
Is there anything apple does better than linux that deserves I don’t nuke it?
Adobe CC, or multimedia stuff in general. And the fact that you can run MS Office natively. But if you don’t care about that, then just nuke it.