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MacBook 4,1 (Early 2008) SSD upgrade?

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beosound3200

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 23, 2010
684
0
Guys i have a few questions...


I have a MacBook with 2.1 core 2 duo, 1 GB of RAM and a 5400 rpm drive.
I mostly work run safari, iphoto, itunes and word and it is dead slow, it needs 10 sec to launch word, probably because of the 5400 rpm drive so i want to boost its performance...
I want to put an OCZ Vertex 2 ssd in it (and that one only, i can get it cheap)

Now the questions...

Does it make sense to put just an ssd in it or should i put 2 gb of ram also? Will the speed of the ssd compensate for the lack of ram or should i put the ram first and then think about putting an ssd later? I have 260 mb of wired, 500 mb of active and 250 mb of inactive memory. Bear in mind im on a limited budget here so i need to make a choice between these two... i dont have money for both

Second, any known compatibility issues so far? do i need to disable sms? what about firmware updates, are the necessary and really important or just minor stuff? because i dont want to mess with the bootcamp partition... Does it have garbage collection?


Thank you for your time and valuable information ;)
 
msjones

msjones

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2007
429
4
Nottinghamshire, UK
I would definitely upgrade your ram first. You should max it out. I'm not sure what's yours would take either 3 or 4gb. The SR MacBooks do accept upto 4gb.

I run a 5400rm in my MacBook with 4gb ram and I have no issues at all. Maybe backup your data and do a reinstall?

You can probably upgrade your memory and get a new 250GB hard drive for about 100£/$.
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
Definitely put in the max RAM. You're basically using all of what you have, so that's most likely the root of the slowdowns. I have a 7200 RPM drive, which is a bit faster than your 5400, but not amazingly so, and 4GB RAM. I can open any of the office programs in just a couple seconds, and my computer is plenty zippy for me
 
blackburn

blackburn

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2010
974
0
Where Judas lost it's boots.
Yeah ssd + low ram = ssd wear way faster due to excessive pagination, replace ram first then reformat, or get ram and the ssd. Sandforce ssds do have some issues with mac os x, but nothing to difficult. Don't worry about garbage collection sandforce ssds handles it pretty well.
 
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beosound3200

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 23, 2010
684
0
blackburn said:
Yeah ssd + low ram = ssd wear way faster due to excessive pagination, replace ram first then reformat, or get ram and the ssd. Sandforce ssds do have some issues with mac os x, but nothing to difficult. Don't worry about garbage collection sandforce ssds handles it pretty well.
Click to expand...


what kind of issues? would the Kingston SSDNow V100 be a better solution?

well, that usage is with all my usual programs opened; usually i have about 30-50 MB free, but still is 2 gb really a necessity?
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
beosound3200 said:
what kind of issues? would the Kingston SSDNow V100 be a better solution?

well, that usage is with all my usual programs opened; usually i have about 30-50 MB free, but still is 2 gb really a necessity?
Click to expand...

If you have less than a couple hundred MB free, then it's a sign you need more RAM. Honestly 2GB is barely sufficient these days, so I would get that at the bare minimum.
 
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beosound3200

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 23, 2010
684
0
so i would see a larger boost of performance in everyday tasks (smoother workflow) if i go down the ram route?
 
blackburn

blackburn

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2010
974
0
Where Judas lost it's boots.
beosound3200 said:
what kind of issues? would the Kingston SSDNow V100 be a better solution?

well, that usage is with all my usual programs opened; usually i have about 30-50 MB free, but still is 2 gb really a necessity?
Click to expand...

Some people suffer from sleep issues. I haven't experienced one yet, but since it might get me in trouble I disabled writing to the ssd the sleep image, so 0 problems.
And If I remember the original disks some times don't recognize the ssd during install. Other than that I'm an happy camper :D
 
P

Pearl Wisdom

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2009
68
11
beosound3200 said:
so i would see a larger boost of performance in everyday tasks (smoother workflow) if i go down the ram route?
Click to expand...

I have the 2.4 GHz MacBook 4,1 . Changing the RAM to 4GB will help a lot, more important than getting an SSD. Lately I'm running out of the 4GB after running Safari for a long time with many tabs and windows open. I see some places, like OWC, that says this model can be maxed out at 6 GB of RAM (2 + 4) http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/MacBook/DDR2/

But right now the 4GB chip at OWC is $90 and I wonder if there might be some risks of problems since Apple only officially says it support 2 x 2GB. Maybe it is just time for me to get a newer computer.

But 1GB is definitely way too little RAM for this 4,1 computer, so 4GB is a very worthwhile upgrade.
 
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