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Black MacBook, what is the highest OS X I can go?

T

Trapscallion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2014
19
0
So i have a Black Macbook 2008 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz , 4.1

I currently am running Snow Leopard and wanted to see what the highest operating system is i could use?

There is 6gb of ram inside it yet i feel i am not actually getting use of the extra 2gb. I did hear that this was due to Snow Leopard not being able to be run in 64bit after a certain update, so after plenty of hunting and work arounds i can run my Mac at 64 bit, minus changing the display brightness or putting the Mac to sleep ever.

Still though i feel i am not getting the most out of my macbook, already have a Kingston 128gb SSD running all of my applications which speeds up things generally but still feel the mac could be running faster and using all of the 6gm of RAM.

Probably will upgrade to the new Samsung 850 pro SSD

The main cpu hungry app i use is Logic 9 and VM Ware Fusion. With Fusion i tried to allocate 3 gb of ram to both my mac and the virtual pc but this is when i noticed the mac going sluggish and was not really using the whole 6GB i have on board.

Hope one of you lovely Mac folk can help me out on this
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,455
4,405
Delaware
Your MacBook4,1 can go up to Lion - OS X 10.7.5 - maximum.

Don't trust your "feelings" about how much memory is in use. OS X uses whatever amount of memory that it needs. If you add more memory, OS X will generally use more. That DOESN'T mean that you can decide manually how much memory the system, or even a particular app will use. It's all done dynamically within the system. One exception to that is your VMWare. You CAN adjust the memory allocation, because you are using VMWare to run a separate operating system. Most other apps have no means to manually adjust memory use (even if you could), as your OS X system handles all of that for you…
 
T

Trapscallion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2014
19
0
I was reading somewhere that some people had managed to go all the way up to Mavericks with some work arounds? The only reason i would do this is to use Logic X

I currently use iStat Menu and it only shows 4gb in total whether in use or not, while my mac recognises 6gb.

Just does not seem the extra 2gb is being used at all
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,455
4,405
Delaware
Mountain Lion, yes - with work-arounds and limitations.
Mavericks - no… Biggest fail is that it's not possible to get the intel integrated graphics to work in Mavericks.
All MacBooks and MBAir from that era have the same problem with MavX.

For your RAM, try removing the 2GB stick, so the 4GB is the only stick installed. Boot up and check in About This Mac to see if all 4Gb is recognized.
If your MacBook shows 4GB with only the one stick installed, shut down, and reinsert the 2GB stick, then check if all 6GB is now showing in About This Mac.
If the ONLY anomaly is that iStat Menu shows only 4GB, while the About This Mac continues to report 6GB, then it's just a bug in iStat Menu...
 
T

Trapscallion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2014
19
0
Ok got you
So Lion is my best bet?

Yeah in about this mac it does recognise 6gb of ram as well in the activity monitor.

Could just be a bug with iStat menu
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,455
4,405
Delaware
I have exactly your MacBook (a white, not black, but same 2.4 GHz)
I have been using Lion since it came out, and works very well.

... about the SSD. I think that the Samsung 850 would be some overkill on the 1.5 Gbit SATA. I am wanting to get a Crucial MX100 256 GB, which I think is a better match for the older MacBook (and way cheaper than the 850 pro). Just my opinion… :D
 
tom vilsack

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
63
ladner cdn
If you use your macbook for online banking,stocks ect you will want to go to the max osx lion as snow leopard in no longer supported with latest security updates.
 
T

Trapscallion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 10, 2014
19
0
Yeah one of the main reasons for upgrading was just to get things running more smoothly. Just started a production course and they use Logic X and Pro Tools 11 so kinda effed on what i am using so will have to stick with Logic 9 and Renoise until i can get the new Mac Mini.

Whats the deal with Lion, i did hear some people say it was kinda clunky and buggy? What are my options for running it in 64bit? Dual booting?

It would be good if someone could see what the best SSD would be for these older Macs as there are a ton to choose from and like you said DeltaMac
the Samsung might be a bit overkill, but since it is the best on the market i feel it should not harm my mac and at least improve it from my pile of Kingston crap.

Guess i just have to upgrade to Lion and see how i feel about it and whether any of my current programs i use stop working at all.
 
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