Is it worth upgrading?

[Milkandtwo]

Hi all.
I have a mid 2009 mac book pro.
2.53 GHz core 2 duo
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
256 GB HDD
It's infernally slow, hot, will only run when connected to power source. All to be expected really.
I can't really afford a new one, or even a decent second hand one. So, I've been looking at
1) replacing the battery
2) replacing the HDD for a 1TB SSD (possibly in the optical drive slot?)
3) increasing RAM to 8GB.
4) cleaning my fans!
Would this increase speed of processing and start-up speed noticeably? Will it make my machine quieter and cooler? Is it a waste of time spending £400 on upgrades on such an old machine, or a great idea? Is there anything I'm missing?
Thanks!

 

[c0LdFire]

Would this increase speed of processing and start-up speed noticeably?
Significantly. Moving to an SSD would be a night and day difference.

Will it make my machine quieter and cooler?
Probably not. Cleaning the fans might help a bit but it won't significantly impact things unless you actually have a total blockage on them.

Is it a waste of time spending £400 on upgrades on such an old machine, or a great idea?
This one is up to you. On one hand, that's a heck of a lot cheaper than a brand new laptop. On the other hand, your 9 year old motherboard could crap out tomorrow and make it all for nothing.

 

[Milkandtwo]

Would this increase speed of processing and start-up speed noticeably?
Significantly. Moving to an SSD would be a night and day difference.

Will it make my machine quieter and cooler?
Probably not. Cleaning the fans might help a bit but it won't significantly impact things unless you actually have a total blockage on them.

Is it a waste of time spending £400 on upgrades on such an old machine, or a great idea?
This one is up to you. On one hand, that's a heck of a lot cheaper than a brand new laptop. On the other hand, your 9 year old motherboard could crap out tomorrow and make it all for nothing.

Yes - thank you. The motherboard is my worry about the outlay. Ok. So if I look at a second hand one, what is a good model/year to look for? Essentially I would like to get one for under £500 that I can upgrade to a 1TB SSD and one that has a decent number of ports (for my audio interface, external drives etc). Am I right in thinking I need to avoid retina models if I wish to upgrade to SSD? This will help narrow my search! Thanks for the help.

 

[Glmnet1]

I agree with everything @c0LdFire but I have to add, if I were you I'd skip the RAM upgrade for now. The SSD upgrade will make a huge difference, macOS is really good at RAM management and caching will be much faster with the SSD.

When the machine breaks you can use the SSD as external storage, sell it or put it in another computer so it's not lost.

Also, I suggest putting the SSD in place of the HDD and if you want put the HDD in the optical drive spot. But with 1TB SSD, I wouldn't even both with a 256gb HDD.

 

[Milkandtwo]

I agree with everything @c0LdFire but I have to add, if I were you I'd skip the RAM upgrade for now. The SSD upgrade will make a huge difference, macOS is really good at RAM management and caching will be much faster with the SSD.

When the machine breaks you can use the SSD as external storage, sell it or put it in another computer so it's not lost.

Also, I suggest putting the SSD in place of the HDD and if you want put the HDD in the optical drive spot. But with 1TB SSD, I wouldn't even both with a 256gb HDD.

Good point. If I upgrade to SSD and motherboard goes I could go to plan B and get a, say 2013 machine and put the SSD in that. Good to know I can skip RAM for now.
Battery I think needs doing though. Am I right in thinking the battery performance is responsible, at least in part, for it running so hot and the fans kicking in so much? (This is an issue as I record audio and currently have to keep my machine outside the booth and connect monitor, keyboard and mouse. It'd be great to be able to avoid this)
The full charge capacity is 4601 mAh, cycle count 1325. (Any other info useful?)