2008 Black MacBook in good condition worth upgrading?

[BUJonathan]

I have a 2008 Black MacBook 4,1 (2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of RAM) in great condition running OS X 10.5.8 (Leopard). The exterior is literally in great condition with minimal wear even on the trackpad. I typically use it closed and in the vertical position using a TwelveSouth BookArc so it has seen minimal wear-and-tear.

The only issue I've had with it so far is the battery swelled and no longer held a charge. So, a year ago I replaced it with an upgraded battery from OWC.

I'm at a cross-roads with my MacBook:
A) Buy a new 13" MacBook Air and sell my '08 Blackbook. Resale values on the '08 Blackbook are a miniscule ~$150 through BestBuy and Gazelle.
B) Keep the BlackBook and upgrade it with a 120 GB SSD from OWC, 6 GB of RAM, and OS X Leopard. Cost is $250.

Is it worth putting $250 into a 2008 black MacBook? I mainly use my computer for web surfing, occasional YouTube videos, Word/PowerPoint/Excel, and some light iPhoto work. The age is most noticeable when manipulating photos in iPhoto, opening large Excel spreadsheets, and opening multiple tabs in Google Chrome.

On one hand, I hate to drop $1100 on a new computer and literally give this the BlackBook away for $150. On other other hand, I'm not sure if the upgrades will really prolong its usefulness or not?

 

[Pinkie Pie]

Sell it on eBay! It's riskier than using Apple or Gazelle but Blackbooks still have a high resale value, especially if it's practically in mint condition. You could get $500 for it!

 

[burnout8488]

You don't need to get an OWC SSD, check Slickdeals for sales on Intel SSDs or other good ones.

4 vs 6 gig will also save you some money.

 

[BUJonathan]

You don't need to get an OWC SSD, check Slickdeals for sales on Intel SSDs or other good ones.

4 vs 6 gig will also save you some money.

I mentioned the OWC SSD only because I know that the "Trim" is not an issue with OWC. I'm sure its OK with other SSDs, but the OWC was the only one I knew would be specifically OK.

Regardless, I don't mind putting $180-250 into my BlackBook if I can get a few more good years out of it. But... the MacBook Air is pretty sweet too

 

[davidg4781]

I sold an old 2006 CD MacBook last year for I think almost $350 on Craigslist. It had the top case recently replaced so it looked great. I think the battery was fairly new too.

Check what it's worth on www.mac2sell.com. It'll give you an idea of what you can sell it for. You may have to wait a bit but it may be worth the wait. I had it up for almost a month.

Only you can answer if it's worth upgrading. If you're not using it for much, keep it. Just know that the value will continue to drop as time goes on. On the other hand, picking up newer MBA should hold its value longer.

How about splitting the difference? When I sold mine last year I bought a 2010 MBP for $800... in AWESOME condition. I'm good for a few more years and I didn't spend as much as I would have on a brand new one.