Is the Late 2008 Macbook 13.3" worth it anymore?

[CitricThunder]

So, my friend is selling his Macbook for pretty cheap, I think, which is running on 10.5.8 and has a Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.4GHz, 2GB of 1066MHz RAM and a Geforce 9400M. Seems out of date in terms of both hardware and software. But I will really only be using it for web browsing, music and maybe Java games, so i'm not sure what to think about this.

I noticed that on 10.5.8 the latest Java is only 1.6.0_26 and I couldn't even get the Runescape client to run. If I updated to Snow Leopard or even Lion for the latest Java, how much would the general performance decrease/increase?

I would appreciate any experience you guys could share with me, thanks!

 

[dylanlewis2000]

Yes and no. It really depends on how much it's going for. You could make it into a nice machine with a few small upgrades, more RAM and an SSD as an example. Are you going to be using its as a portable device? If so you may need to buy a battery too.

 

[Primejimbo]

I have a late 2008 aluminum MacBook and I use it daily for work. I installed 8GB of RAM, a SSD, installed El Capitan, and it's great.

I can't believe how much I use it again and how great it works. I get to hold off a while now on a new MacBook Pro now and probably get another year or 2 out of this machine.

I might get a new battery after Christmas, but I still get over 2 hours on it. I don't think that's bad considering the age.

 

[eldudorinio]

I plan on keeping my own Late 2008 Macbook as well for at least 2-3 more years.

I have already added 8GB of RAM and just bought a new battery, a Unibody Laptop Dual Drive so that I can add a second hard drive in the Superdrive's place and two SSD drives that I plan to configure in RAID-0. I think that's almost as many upgrades as I can do on this machine.

So basically depending on what you plan to use it for and how much you are willing to spend on upgrades, the Late 2008 Macbook is definitely still worth it for me.

 

[Primejimbo]

I plan on keeping my own Late 2008 Macbook as well for at least 2-3 more years.

I have already added 8GB of RAM and just bought a new battery, a Unibody Laptop Dual Drive so that I can add a second hard drive in the Superdrive's place and two SSD drives that I plan to configure in RAID-0. I think that's almost as many upgrades as I can do on this machine.

So basically depending on what you plan to use it for and how much you are willing to spend on upgrades, the Late 2008 Macbook is definitely still worth it for me.

Where did you get you battery? I see Anker makes one for about $50

 

[eldudorinio]

Where did you get you battery? I see Anker makes one for about $50

I did not go for the original one as it was quite pricey. I ordered a compatible battery from here.
Have not received it yet though, so I can't really say how good it is.