How to Install and Set up Ubuntu 20.04 on an Old MacBook Pro

A mostly complete guide to Ubuntu on MacBook Pro

Image by the author using Teffects shadow2.

Introduction

It’s handy to have different OSs on hand when you develop and test your code. I have an old MacBook and I decided to install Ubuntu.

This article shows you how to install Ubuntu 20.04 on a 2015 MacBook Pro and setting up Ubuntu similar to a MacBook configuration. It won’t cover a dual boot installation. macOS and all the data will be erased during the Ubuntu installation.

Installing Ubuntu 20.04 on MacBook Pro

My old MacBook Pro has a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 8 GB memory.

My old MacBook Pro has a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 8 GB memory. A screenshot by the author.

Backup

Back up all the data you need from the MacBook Pro.

A memory stick

I used an 8 GB memory stick to transfer the Ubuntu Desktop ISO image.