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2008 macbook - upgrade ram or uninstall mavericks?

L

leviathanguthri

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 13, 2014
8
0
Hi,

I have a late 2008 Macbook. It was running fine for my purposes with 10.6.8 but I upgraded to Mavericks and now it's really sluggish.

I have taken a few steps to improve memory and stuff, but I see that some forums say 2gb, although the minimum, is not really enough.

So my question is, what makes more sense:

- Spend about $60 on buying 4gb of ram (the max my macbook can take) and use Mavericks.
- Uninstall Mavericks and go back to 10.6.8.

My mac's stats are:

2.26 intel core 2 duo processor
2 gb ram 1067 mhz ddr3
plenty of storage left (about 200gb)

I really appreciate any feedback! I went to the Mac store today and they all kind of hedged their bets and shrugged...
 
is this really a 2009?

From the processor at 2.26 and the ram at 1067 sounds like a late 2009 unibody.
If this is so, you can install 8 Gb of RAM in the machine under Mavericks. It should run smoothly (I'm running MVRicks in my 2010 MBwhite quite smoothly)

My apologies if I'm wrong about your macbook model

Best of luck
X
 
This has been discussed before the maximum about of RAM for late 2008 MacBooks or higher is 8GB. I have an Aluminum Macbook and apple states the maximum is 4Gb but I assure you iam running 8gb just fine and many other users are doing the same with their Aluminum and plastic MacBooks. As long as they are late 2008 or newer.
 
Check this for max ram

leviathanguthri said:
I double-checked, you're right, it's a MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009). According to the Mac site though, the maximum memory is 4gb.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1651?viewlocale=en_US#link1

If I could upgrade to 8gb, I'd do it, I am just worried I will spend $60 and still have a computer struggling.

I really appreciate both of your opinions, thanks for chiming in.
Click to expand...
Check this out for max ram possibilities:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...13-polycarbonate-unibody-late-2009-specs.html

Others with your same model may have info about how mavericks performs.
In my white 2010 runs well and I see not beach balls... Of course newer models perform faster but not necessarily better..
Good luck
X
 
brdeveloper said:
9400m-equipped Macbooks support 8GB. My late-2009 white unibody one share nearly the same spec as yours and I'm using 8GB. Do you have the aluminium unibody Macbook?
Click to expand...

No I have the white one. I looked up some things about it. It seems, as some posters suggest, that it can unofficially be boosted to 8gb. I will pop down to a local shop today and pick their brains too.
 
leviathanguthri said:
I have been looking here for RAM

http://eu.crucial.com/eur/en/memory

The problem is that if I enter my model number in - Macbook 2.26 Intel Core Duo etc - it only offers me 2x2gb ram. If I want more, what model would I get.
Click to expand...

Choose DDR3 in category to the left, then PC3-8500. There should be an 8gb kit (4gb x 2).

EDIT: I was a little too fast sorry. Only UDIMM shows up. They won't fit. :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks again guys. I've read these forums since I had my mac, but this is the first time I have posted here and I really appreciate your help and patience!
 
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