Improving performance of 1st gen?

[stanw]

I seem to get the spinning beach all a lot on my first gen MacBook. I do not have much installed on it, and I only use it for email and light web browsing. I also never updated the OS.

1. Is there any thing that can be done to improve its performance?
2. Does updating the OS improve or slowdown performance?

Thanks.

 

[Boneheadxan]

If you don't have too much data on it, why not try a fresh install with the latest OS? Sierra has been running quite smooth on mine.

 

[DeltaMac]

If yours is a "first gen Macbook" (2006, 13-inch white), then you can't upgrade OS X past 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)
(There are possibly hacks to go beyond Snow Leopard, but not natively)
So - if that's what you have, and you have the original Tiger (OS X 10.4.11), then you can update some, just not to any system near the latest.
If you haven't touched the software very much since it was new, you could download and install the last combined updater for Tiger from here. Installing that updater CAN help as it checks to make sure that all system files affected by the updater are installed, and in the proper location.

Updating to Leopard (or even Snow Leopard) can help (but you would discover that Leopard is a slower experience compared to Tiger, but you get more options for other software that is a little more up to date than you can use on Tiger, and you can even replace the internal hard drive with an SSD. That would give you a noticeable improvement. Either system would be purchased, and Apple still does sell Snow Leopard for about $20 here.

How much RAM do you have installed? If you haven't ever upgraded, you may still have only 512MB installed. You can max that out to 2GB.
So, you have some options.

 

[fisherking]

are we talking about the 2015 MB? are you on el cap? sierra might be a good move. also, go into system preferences>accessiblity>display and check 'reduce motion' and 'reduce transparency'. reboot periodically, when things feel sluggish, and then, open only the apps you need.

 

[DeltaMac]

I guess we will need to wait until stanw comes back and tells us what a "First Gen MacBook" might be.
I don't see anything about any MacBook in OPs previous threads and posts.
"First Gen" might be 2006 - or might be 2015 ...
Makes a bit of difference, eh?

 

[fisherking]

I guess we will need to wait until stanw comes back and tells us what a "First Gen MacBook" might be.
I see anything about any MacBook in OPs previous threads and posts.
"First Gen" might be 2006 - or might be 2015 ...
Makes a bit of difference, eh?

definitely!