Injecting som life into a 4yr old MacBook Pro: SSD, RAM, upgrading

[patashnik]

I have an almost 4 year old MacBook Pro, with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 500GB 5400rpm harddrive.

It's not the coolest kid on the block, especially working in Photoshop and Lightroom with scanned files (50MB size) is rather slow.

I was wondering: Would it be worth it to install a SSD drive, and perhaps increase the RAM to max limit? I'm not sure about the RAM, since this MacBook Pro has a limit of 3GB.

Thoughts and experiences are most welcome! Thanks!

 

[Quad 2.5 G5 =)]

I have an almost 4 year old MacBook Pro, with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 500GB 5400rpm harddrive.

It's not the coolest kid on the block, especially working in Photoshop and Lightroom with scanned files (50MB size) is rather slow.

I was wondering: Would it be worth it to install a SSD drive, and perhaps increase the RAM to max limit? I'm not sure about the RAM, since this MacBook Pro has a limit of 3GB.

Thoughts and experiences are most welcome! Thanks!

I would suggest maxing the RAM, as that will help in Photoshop, and maybe getting an SSD drive that fits into the ExpressCard/34 slot, and use it as your scratch disk.

 

[iBookG4user]

I have an almost 4 year old MacBook Pro, with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM and a 500GB 5400rpm harddrive.

It's not the coolest kid on the block, especially working in Photoshop and Lightroom with scanned files (50MB size) is rather slow.

I was wondering: Would it be worth it to install a SSD drive, and perhaps increase the RAM to max limit? I'm not sure about the RAM, since this MacBook Pro has a limit of 3GB.

Thoughts and experiences are most welcome! Thanks!

I'd consider getting a SSD and placing that in the hard drive bay, then getting one of the PATA optibay knockoffs on ebay to place the HDD in the Superdrive spot. Then upgrade the RAM to 3GB. The good thing about the SSD is that you'll be able to move it to your new computer when you upgrade, so it is an investment for now as well as something in the future. The SSD will make a big difference.

 

[lukester]

That's the same computer that I have. I was frustrated over how things would get bogged down running PS on my external 30". I believe the video ram and the computer ram is not enough for what I do. I have a 7200 rpm hd in it but that does not seem to help much.

I bit the bullet and just bought a 17 I7.

 

[patashnik]

I'll be ordering a new iMac (or Mac Pro - if they are updated) in a month or two, so looking ahead, this will not be my main computer. The question is if spending $500 on this machine is a wise option, or if I should just forget about it.

The "open application" and boot time is not what I'm interested in, it's the general snappiness when working with 50MB files in Photoshop/Lightroom.

 

[DaveRyan]

RAM limit

I have the same generation of Macbook Pro with the limit of 3 gig of RAM. I have read references that in fact 4 gig can be installed. I am going to try it.