Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What version of OS X should I have on my 2009 Macbook

M

macdude143

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 7, 2014
3
0
Currently I have OS X 10.9 on there and it seems pretty slow here's my specs.

13-Inch Late 2009
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 1067 MHZ DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

Does anyone else believe in just keeping the OS X version that was on it when you bought it and just installing all the updates instead of going up versions? It seems like the computer gets slower if you keep upgrading like the OS isn't optimized very well for older systems.

WHAT VERSION SHOULD I INSTALL OR JUST KEEP 10.9 and ADD RAM?
 
iMacBooked

iMacBooked

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2013
541
3
4 8 15 16 23 42 ✈
Snow Leopard, perhaps? It depends a lot on the current state your computer is in. This is not only about the OS, the state of the hardware influences your speed even more.
 
FreakinEurekan

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,561
2,614
I'd go with Mavericks and add RAM. Snow Leopard isn't getting security updates and it's getting more common for software to require 10.7 minimum. I find Mavericks to perform better than either Lion or Mountain Lion.

Also think about swapping out the hard drive for a SSD. Kits are pretty reasonably priced and it's not a difficult install on that model - the performance boost is incredible!
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
macdude143 said:
Currently I have OS X 10.9 on there and it seems pretty slow here's my specs.

13-Inch Late 2009
2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 1067 MHZ DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

Does anyone else believe in just keeping the OS X version that was on it when you bought it and just installing all the updates instead of going up versions? It seems like the computer gets slower if you keep upgrading like the OS isn't optimized very well for older systems.

WHAT VERSION SHOULD I INSTALL OR JUST KEEP 10.9 and ADD RAM?
Click to expand...

Keep Mavericks and bump your memory up to 4GB. Snow Leopard is no longer receiving security updates. Mavericks has much better memory management than Lion or Mountain Lion.
 
Tumbleweed666

Tumbleweed666

macrumors 68000
Mar 20, 2009
1,761
141
Near London, UK.
Yep, more memory.

You could also try a fresh install* of Mavericks rather than an upgrade, when I wiped my 2009 iMac with a fresh install of Mavericks it was like getting a new computer. It did have 4GB RAM though.

*(I would take 2 different backups of data, say one Time Machine one a clone, before doing a fresh install. You'll have to reinstall apps you wish to keep)
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,346
12,464
I have a 2010 MBPro, and have used 10.6.8 on it right up to now. It still runs well, particularly after I swapped out the original HDD for an SSD.

I also have Mountain Lion (10.8.5) installed on a second partition, it runs fine as well with the original 4gb of RAM.

I would suggest either of those.

I tried Mavericks on my desktop machine (late 2012 Mini i7), and it runs like cold molasses ...
 
F

Framework43

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2010
1
0
I have the exact same model as you (except I boosted my ram to 4gb). The RAM upgrade is really needed and its pretty easy to do as well.

In my opinion, the Yosemite beta runs better than Mavericks after doing this.
 
glenthompson

glenthompson

macrumors demi-god
Apr 27, 2011
2,983
842
Virginia
That model can take up to 8GB. You need 4GB as a minimum. The 8 is good if you run a lot of stuff at once. As suggested, a SSD is once of the best upgrades you can make. Drive is only SATA II so you won't see huge improvement but it's far better than the HDD.

If your disk space needs aren't great you can get a 256GB Samsung 840 Evo for $135. 4GB of memory is about $40. Far cheaper than a new computer. Should get you a couple more years of good use.
 
Jacksonc

Jacksonc

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2013
381
0
Jony's house
I have a late 2009 with a SSHD and 2gb ram running Mavericks. It is working great when I have only a few apps open, and I can even run Unity and Maya at the same time. but it could use a ram upgrade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom