Is my A1181 MacBook now obsolete?

Not obsolete at all, I still use it daily, actually I'm writing this answer on my MacBook 3,1 (Late 2007).

The latest officially supported OS X version is Lion, which is of course an old one - doesn't run the newest iTunes for example, and that is a real problem for those with new Apple handhelds, not to mention even the latest versions of most browsers need newer OS X versions.

There is a bit tricky way to install OS X Yosemite (or Mavericks) on these, though - and that's exactly what I did. It is usable but quite slow of course, but I can use it when I need iTunes or any new Macintosh-only application.

For daily use, I installed the latest Ubuntu (Linux) on it. It's a very lightweight operating system, not the most user-friendly one (even simple tasks like installing some 3rd party apps sometimes require using terminal commands), but once set up, it's the best operating system for simple tasks like browsing, watching movies and working. It's absolutely incredible: with Linux, scrolling websites that would normally stutter (like Facebook or YouTube) are just as smooth as on any new computer, animations are also buttery smooth, battery life is just as great if not better than on OS X - my old MacBook is completely reborn with Linux, works like a new system, and when I need iTunes, I just boot into Yosemite.

I did upgrade the RAM to 4 gigs, also I did put a 250GB SSD in it.

Not obsolete at all if you know what to do with it! For what I do, it's not any worse than a new MacBook. 🙂

Hey wrightonAZ,

It's not all bad man! Mavericks probably wouldnt run too well on your computer, if you're sitting at 10.6.8 right now you're in a good spot. If you want iCloud integration you can always look into getting Lion as well. According to your specs and the System Requirements for Lion you can upgrade if you have 2gb of RAM in your machine.

There are two ways of looking at it. Does it still do everything you need it to do? If it does, keep using it until it doesn't.

Or, It's an 8 year old system, sell it or pass it on to someone who can use it and treat yourself to some new technology.

Hmmm… I just noticed that A1181 covers all MacBooks from MacBook1,0 to MacBook5,2. Which one are we talking about?

So it can support 3 GB RAM and can run 10.7.5. Not the current OS, but still fairly new. Pop in an SSD and it'll seem like a new computer. I'm sure you can squeeze a few more years out of it.