I have a late 2006 2,1 model MacBook (black), and I'd like to speed it up a bit. It's still running pretty good, although I'm having problems with it slowing down when I'm using a lot of apps. I've been looking at the 13" Unibodies too, but going from a C2D 2.0GHz to a C2D 2.4 or 2.6GHz after 3.5+ years seems pointless. So I'm thinking of the following:
RAM
I currently have 2x1GB DDR2, and this model is supposed to run with 3GB of RAM max: either 1x1GB and 1x2GB (3GB total) or 2x2GB which it'll use 3.2GB of. The latter should be faster because of dual channel or something like that, but not all that much. Unfortunately I can't get it up to 4GB.
I decided to order a single Kingston KTA-MB667/2GB module with Lifetime warranty. The prices are pretty steep nowadays for this MacBook-certified memory, and I don't think the 2x2GB will make thát much of a difference compared to 1x1GB and 1x2GB. Hopefully I'll notice some improvements when running many apps at the same time.
Hard drive
I'm still using the stock HD which is a 120GB 5400RPM Toshiba MK1234GSX. Would a HD upgrade speed up day-to-day stuff? I'm mostly working with web development apps, Photoshop, Illustrator, and a lot of browsers/tabs.
I've been reading about the newish Seagate Momentus XT and the older WD Scorpion Black. Both 7200RPM, and according to reviews they're both pretty good. Will these speed up working with the apps I mentioned above? Or will the difference be negligible? I'm willing to invest a bit in this machine, but only if I'll really be feeling some kind of speed bump, otherwise it's kinda useless.
Also, this MacBook has a ICH7-M AHCI S-ATA controller with a speed of 1.5 Gigabit. Will these newer S-ATA disks even work with that? Backward compatible? And if so, will the speed gain still be worth it?
Something else?
Anything besides RAM and HD that I'm missing, that could speed up this MacBook a bit? Thanks!
RAM
I currently have 2x1GB DDR2, and this model is supposed to run with 3GB of RAM max: either 1x1GB and 1x2GB (3GB total) or 2x2GB which it'll use 3.2GB of. The latter should be faster because of dual channel or something like that, but not all that much. Unfortunately I can't get it up to 4GB.
I decided to order a single Kingston KTA-MB667/2GB module with Lifetime warranty. The prices are pretty steep nowadays for this MacBook-certified memory, and I don't think the 2x2GB will make thát much of a difference compared to 1x1GB and 1x2GB. Hopefully I'll notice some improvements when running many apps at the same time.
Hard drive
I'm still using the stock HD which is a 120GB 5400RPM Toshiba MK1234GSX. Would a HD upgrade speed up day-to-day stuff? I'm mostly working with web development apps, Photoshop, Illustrator, and a lot of browsers/tabs.
I've been reading about the newish Seagate Momentus XT and the older WD Scorpion Black. Both 7200RPM, and according to reviews they're both pretty good. Will these speed up working with the apps I mentioned above? Or will the difference be negligible? I'm willing to invest a bit in this machine, but only if I'll really be feeling some kind of speed bump, otherwise it's kinda useless.
Also, this MacBook has a ICH7-M AHCI S-ATA controller with a speed of 1.5 Gigabit. Will these newer S-ATA disks even work with that? Backward compatible? And if so, will the speed gain still be worth it?
Something else?
Anything besides RAM and HD that I'm missing, that could speed up this MacBook a bit? Thanks!