2009 MBP 2.26 Core 2 duo and SSD

[Muttster]

Going to get some ram and a ssd for a 2.26 Core2Duo MBP. Does anyone have experience with either a Crucial BX200 or a Samsung 850 EVO? Does it play nice with this laptop?

Also going to replace the 2 gb ram that I have with 8 gb. Should I see a significant improvement?

 

[emilioestevez]

That laptop maxes out at SATA 2, so don't waste your money on an expensive SATA 3 drive, as you won't get the advertised speeds anyhow.

Any 2.5" drive will work. SanDisk's a good bet.

And yes, 8GB RAM will make a significant difference.

Your computer's been swapping memory with your HDD for 6 years wearing it down since it ran out of RAM quicklike.

 

[T5BRICK]

Going to get some ram and a ssd for a 2.26 Core2Duo MBP. Does anyone have experience with either a Crucial BX200 or a Samsung 850 EVO? Does it play nice with this laptop?

I had a crucial M4 in my 2009 MBP. It worked very well. It's still in use to this day.

Also going to replace the 2 gb ram that I have with 8 gb. Should I see a significant improvement?

Should be a nice improvement. I had 2 x 4GB 1333MHz Corsair value RAM in mine.

 

[treekram]

That laptop maxes out at SATA 2, so don't waste your money on an expensive SATA 3 drive, as you won't get the advertised speeds anyhow.

Any 2.5" drive will work. SanDisk's a good bet.

And yes, 8GB RAM will make a significant difference.

Your computer's been swapping memory with your HDD for 6 years wearing it down since it ran out of RAM quicklike.

Conceptually, this is true, but if you look on Amazon, manufacturers quickly move on once the technology moves on (so you won't find a Crucial, Samsung, SanDisk selling SATA-2 disks) and because the older models aren't readily available anymore, 3rd-party sellers seem to feel that they can ask for a price premium. OWC sells a SATA2 SSD, but it's quite a bit more expensive than the Evo 850.

Don't get a SanDisk for this model MBP. The 2009 MBP likely has the infamous Nvidia SATA chipset and SanDisk drives have issues with it. The Crucial BX200 (and most Crucial models) and the Evo 850 are fine.