MacBook Aluminium 2008 Internal Hard Drives and SSDs

The MacBook Aluminium is a slightly strange machine. Essentially it was the first MacBook Pro Unibody 13", and even shares its A1278 model number with the early models in that range, but it is in the MacBook range itself. Maybe this was a trial of the new form factor, or perhaps Apple changed their minds, but after this single release, the next MacBook used the same white plastic case as the previous model, and the next redesign also shares nothing with the MacBook Aluminium.

Like the early Unibody MacBook Pros, this MacBook does use cheap DDR3 PC8500 RAM, and can be upgraded to 8GB (there is a firmware requirement, but this is normally met on any machine that has been upgraded to at least OSX 10.7 Lion). It also has a SATA 300 drive controller, making it able to run an SSD at useful speeds. The Mac maxes out at OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

We can repair this machine in much the same way as any MacBook Pro Unibody, though given its age in most cases we advise replacement of a failed machine. Annoyingly the one thing the MacBook Aluminium doesn't share with MacBook Pro Unibody 13" is its battery design - MacBook Aluminium batteries are unique to this model, making replacement batteries difficult to find.