4 year old MBP, will a system refresh make it run smoother?

[miamialley]

So, my four year old MBP has really been dragging and I'm wondering if wiping it clean and starting fresh will increase speed. I know this was something I did with my Windows computers every couple or three years, but will this help my mac? I get the beach ball frequently and have to force quit because they stop responding. I'm running 10.8.3.

 

[overmind]

Definitely.

I do it every once in a while just to have my computer clean (I have problems sorting files, so they get all over the place) Mac OS X also stores alot of temp files many users have problems getting rid of, so if you think a fresh install is a little bit drastic, try out Onyx for Mac. It helps you delete temp files thats not necessary and more.

http://www.onyxmac.com

 

[B...]

How much RAM is in that system? That could be a bigger issue than the OSX. If you are running 10.8.3, it would require 2 GB RAM, so if you only have 2, that would not work so well.

 

[ianwuk]

As said, consider upgrading the RAM first. That, and then a clean reformat and reinstall will work wonders.

 

[miamialley]

How much RAM is in that system? That could be a bigger issue than the OSX. If you are running 10.8.3, it would require 2 GB RAM, so if you only have 2, that would not work so well.

As said, consider upgrading the RAM first. That, and then a clean reformat and reinstall will work wonders.

I upgraded to 4 GB of RAM about two years ago.

 

[rocknblogger]

If you throw an SSD into that bad boy you'll be amazed at how fast it'll be. Plus another 4GB's of RAM wouldn't hurt either. You'll breath new life into that machine

 

[0r30]

A SSD would help you out a lot. Your current HD has probably had many writes through the years.

With out a doubt you will feel a very nice increase in speed with a SSD. Dont forget to format the new SSD to osx mac journaled before installing lion on it.