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How to make late 08 MB alum run better

M

maclaw21

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 26, 2009
266
228
I have a late 2008 MB aluminum (2 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo; 4 gb RAM). As you might expect with a machine at this age, it is starting to run a bit sluggish. What can I do to make this run faster/smoother/snappier/better?

Any thoughts welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Best thing to do is to pop in a Solid State Drive (SSD). While changing the hard drive with the SSD make sure to dust off the fan and heatsink of the macbook. Put a fresh install of Mavericks on your new SSD and you are ready to go :cool:
 
Maydon0z said:
Best thing to do is to pop in a Solid State Drive (SSD). While changing the hard drive with the SSD make sure to dust off the fan and heatsink of the macbook. Put a fresh install of Mavericks on your new SSD and you are ready to go :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks but I am not sure I have the tech knowledge to install a brand new hard drive. Plus I am probably upgrading to a new MBP next year. So I guess what I'm looking for is a solution that involves as little hardware upgrades as possible.
 
The SSD upgrade really is quite easy - I have limited technical skills and managed to do it in about 15 minutes.

I'm running the 2.4GHZ version of the late 2008 aluminium Macbook with 8GB of RAM and a 240GB SSD - you really wouldn't believe the difference the SSD will make. Apps open as quickly as they do on the display Macbook Airs in my local Apple store.

You can pick up a Crucial drive for less than £100 (UK) from Amazon, so I really would consider it if you're hoping to get another year or so out of your notebook.

Edit: Here you are, this is the drive I added, and it's currently less than £80. You can pick up a 120GB version for £49.99.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT2...8&qid=1411398534&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+m500
 
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neilly93 said:
The SSD upgrade really is quite easy - I have limited technical skills and managed to do it in about 15 minutes.

I'm running the 2.4GHZ version of the late 2008 aluminium Macbook with 8GB of RAM and a 240GB SSD - you really wouldn't believe the difference the SSD will make. Apps open as quickly as they do on the display Macbook Airs in my local Apple store.

You can pick up a Crucial drive for less than £100 (UK) from Amazon, so I really would consider it if you're hoping to get another year or so out of your notebook.

Edit: Here you are, this is the drive I added, and it's currently less than £80. You can pick up a 120GB version for £49.99.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT2...8&qid=1411398534&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+m500
Click to expand...

Thank you. This is something to think about. Do you have a guide as to how to install this drive and how to transfer data from my current drive to this new one? Thanks for the help and link.
 
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If you don't have much RAM, installing more RAM would help. As you upgrade operating systems, they require more and more RAM.

Another thing to do is to clean it. When they are full of dust, they get very hot during gaming, and after a few minutes, the game gets worse and worse lag spikes.
 
First off, an SSD will do wonders for your Mac (as many others have stated). However, before proceeding, how big is your current drive in your Mac? If it is bigger than 250GB and you have more data saved there, a 240GB SSD will not work.

As per installing Mavericks, just restore to the highest CD based OS X version you got, then just use Time Machine to restore everything. It'll take a while, but you'll get your desktop back as you left it. However, this only works if the above condition is not met.
 
My current hard drive is 128gb, so I'm good there. I don't have a time machine.
 
I had a very similar 2008 Macbook. I put it on eBay, bought a 2014 rMBP and the result is a much faster computer. :) I'm not sure I'd spend any money on a machine of that age now.
 
Mike P said:
I had a very similar 2008 Macbook. I put it on eBay, bought a 2014 rMBP and the result is a much faster computer. :) I'm not sure I'd spend any money on a machine of that age now.
Click to expand...

I hear you, but I don't want to buy a new MBP at this time. I'd rather wait til the new ones are released, presumably next summer. That said, I need to do something, as I am starting to believe that my MB is starting weaken. Once I do buy a new MBP, I plan to take the SSD I am buying and use it as an external hard drive for storage.
 
jav6454 said:
Get a 256GB SSD. Also, try to get Time Machine working. You need a back-up solution in case the upgrade fails (slim chance).
Click to expand...


Thanks. I'm gonna pass on the time machine for now. I will clone my current hard drive (that seems to be the prevailing method), so if anything fails with the SSD I will pop the old hard drive back in.
 
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