Anything I can do to make my macbook run better?

[e3493]

I have a 13 inch late 2008 macbook that works ok, but can be slow and laggy at times. Sometimes it takes a few clicks before the mouse will actually click on what your trying to click on and sometimes the pinwheel shows up for a minute or two. The computer has the 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB of memory. I have completely reinstalled Snow Leopard and recently upgraded that to Yosemite. Disk Utility says my hard drive is fine. I accepted a new job where I need my own laptop, so it is necessary for me to use the laptop again or buy a new one. I don't want to ditch my current macbook if I don't have to since it is in good shape and works, its just too slow for me to do daily work on. Is there anything that I can do to make it run like it use to when it was newer, or have I got my use out of it and it is time to upgrade?

Thanks

 

[Wallabe]

If security isn't exactly too big of an issue, turn off filevault, decrypting and encrypting constantly would slow things down, especially on a hard drive.

I'm guessing it's the hard drive that's the bottleneck. Maybe a fresh install? Still have those install discs? Maybe a new drive will help a lot. Take the least expensive options first before you do any hardware upgrade, you may just prefer to get a new machine if you know you'll benefit from using it daily.

 

[brand]

The two things that would make a world of difference and make it seem like a new computer, in comparison, are replacing the HDD with a SSD and upgrading the RAM.

There were two different Late 2008 MacBook models, the Polycarbonate MacBook 4,1 and Aluminum MacBook 5,1. Since you have Yosemite installed I am going to assume that you have the Aluminum MacBook 5,1.

You can get a Samsung EVO 850 250GB SSD for $100. You are only running 2GB RAM and the MacBook 5,1 that you have will support up to 8GB RAM. 2x4GB of DDR2 goes for around $200.

 

[Wallabe]

Just remember the cheapest MBA is $899. If upgrades get expensive, you may just want a new machine.

Even if you do upgrade, soon you will want a new machine. You are running Core 2 Duo. Big difference in performance (and heat) to say the least.

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp5?locale=en_US

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I have a 13 inch late 2008 macbook that works ok, but can be slow and laggy at times. Sometimes it takes a few clicks before the mouse will actually click on what your trying to click on and sometimes the pinwheel shows up for a minute or two. The computer has the 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB of memory. I have completely reinstalled Snow Leopard and recently upgraded that to Yosemite. Disk Utility says my hard drive is fine. I accepted a new job where I need my own laptop, so it is necessary for me to use the laptop again or buy a new one. I don't want to ditch my current macbook if I don't have to since it is in good shape and works, its just too slow for me to do daily work on. Is there anything that I can do to make it run like it use to when it was newer, or have I got my use out of it and it is time to upgrade?

Thanks

Replace your HDD with an SSD, as it's an old SATA connector go with a cheap SSD I'd reccomend the Crucial BX100 for that particular model another 2 GB of RAM will definitely help as well.

SSD's
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=BX100

RAM
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...GB+RAM+DDR2+1066&rh=i:aps,k:4GB+RAM+DDR2+1066

You could do it for under a $100 but $150 will give you a more decent SSD size.