13" Macbook 4,1. Upgrades and requirements?

[gryffinwings]

Just bought a used Early 2008 13 inch Macbook in decent condition. When I bought it the optical drive was making a ratchet at startup, I tested it with a blank CD and then the noise went away, the battery is completely dead at 230 cycles. Other than that it runs on Leopard. It only has 1gb of ram, will that be enough to run SL? I intend to use Aperture 3, which runs on Leopard, but I'm wondering if there are any performance improvements when upgrading to SL.

BTW: I got it for a steal of $180.

 

[seveej]

Just bought a used Early 2008 13 inch Macbook in decent condition. When I bought it the optical drive was making a ratchet at startup, I tested it with a blank CD and then the noise went away, the battery is completely dead at 230 cycles. Other than that it runs on Leopard. It only has 1gb of ram, will that be enough to run SL? I intend to use Aperture 3, which runs on Leopard, but I'm wondering if there are any performance improvements when upgrading to SL.

BTW: I got it for a steal of $180.

Congrats on the steal.

Be forewarned, that machine will in no way be the optimal machine for Aperture - the integrated GPU has very little punch and the CPU is on the weak side. Whether it works for you is based on how impetuous you are.

That said, if you want to give it a try, there are some things which you could do, which will enhance that machine significantly.
1) Increase RAM. Go straight for 4 GB, or even 6GB.
2) Swap hard drive. Any newer and bigger hard drive will give you a hefty boost. As you are probably working with pictures, I won't recommend going for an SSD, but a hybrid might serve you well...

Whether you want to use your notebook on the road is your cup of tea.

 

[gryffinwings]

Congrats on the steal.

Be forewarned, that machine will in no way be the optimal machine for Aperture - the integrated GPU has very little punch and the CPU is on the weak side. Whether it works for you is based on how impetuous you are.

That said, if you want to give it a try, there are some things which you could do, which will enhance that machine significantly.
1) Increase RAM. Go straight for 4 GB, or even 6GB.
2) Swap hard drive. Any newer and bigger hard drive will give you a hefty boost. As you are probably working with pictures, I won't recommend going for an SSD, but a hybrid might serve you well...

Whether you want to use your notebook on the road is your cup of tea.

Actually it's working quite well at 2.5 GB for Aperture 3, even though it's a just slightly slower than I'd like, but it works fast enough for my needs. Also I do plan on upgrading the RAM and harddrive.