Mac As-is Checklist

Work in progress.

Laptop incoming: Instructor sorts as-is machines from potential keepers (tentative evaluation method is PPCs and previous are as-is/recycle, Intel macs are keepers). As-is machines may also be keepers that have missing parts or major issues.

Builders attempt to boot to OSX via an external drive (may need to have staff do this) If the system boots, wipe the hard drive with badblocks or remove the drive (depending on model) Check processor type and speed (in OSX? In EFI/open firmware?/Ubuntu?) Check installed RAM amount (512 MB?) Affix As-Is label and have instructor sign off

Need: General guidelines for categorizing systems with warranties/as-is/scrap Legacy triaging process for Friday shifts (specifically what the other shifts can recycle) Clear evaluation documentation. May need to have some model-specific information (i.e which systems to remove hard drives from, and which models are best bad-blocked).

Running list of laptops that should be bad-blocked: iBook G4s

ifixit.com difficulty ratings by model: PowerBook G4 Titanium Mercury: Easy PowerBook G4 Titanium Onyx: Moderate (flexible plastic parts, easy to lose parts) PowerBook G4 Titanium DVI: Moderate (same reasons as Titanium Onyx) PowerBook G4 Aluminum 15": Moderate to Difficult depending on exact model PowerBook G4 Aluminium 17": Moderate

MacBook Core Duo: Easy MacBook Core 2 Duo: Easy MacBook Unibody: Easy MacBook Unibody A1342: Moderate

MacBook Pro Unibody 13"(2009 onwards): Moderate ...etc

So basically without looking up the exact model disassembly guide, it's not very practical in a lot of cases to have an inexperienced builder remove the hard drive and reassemble. We'd also need to be pretty good about having drives available to install right away so a machine is only ever disassembled once.

Questions: Are all mac as-is machines sold with hard drives for the time being, or should we remove them when possible?