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Late 2008 Macbook pro in need of some love

Grolubao

Grolubao

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 23, 2008
1,579
583
London, UK
Hi guys,

So my Macbook bro Late 2008 4gb RAM was so slow when I updated to Mavericks that I decided to uninstall it and put snow leopard back on. It's fast but I miss iMessage and let alone all the goodies that are coming with Yosemite.

Do you reckon updating my HDD to an SSD 512 from Crucial would be a good upgrade and one that would allow me to enjoy my computer for years to come or might as well bite the bullet and accept that I should just stay with Snow Leopard?
 
An SSD would certainly up with start up/shutdown and launching apps. While you are stuck on SATAII, it'll still be a noticeable difference in speed compared to a HDD, but whether that speed is enough for you I don't know.

Other than read/write speeds, does your macbook still do everything you need? If so, then perhaps the SSD may be worth it for you. Also, I wouldn't stay on SL since you won't get security updates anymore and it doesn't support trim (a MUST for SSDs) =\
 
My wife is actually using this model of laptop right now (it used to be mine). Before passing it on (she wasn't sure about Macs but I have her converted now) I upgraded the RAM to 8gigs (cost about $35 at the time) and I got a Crucial M4 256GB SSD.

The upgrades do make a big difference. It handles Mavericks without too much trouble but that Core 2 cpu is starting to lag slightly now.

I certainly think you'll get some more life out of your machine but it won't be night and day.
 
I currently used it for light operations such browsing, HD movies, skype, evernote, etc, but even HD movies seems to crawl from time to time :/

Other than that I already replaced the battery on the laptop and the magsafe since it burned so guess I already invested some money in the laptop thus the reason for wanting to keep it for some more years.
 
Its a 6 year old machine. I believe its a waste of money and effort to invest in it, but its your call.
 
leman said:
Its a 6 year old machine. I believe its a waste of money and effort to invest in it, but its your call.
Click to expand...

Investing 190€ in a 512gb SSD which will guarantee another 3 years of my laptop seems pretty good investment, but I see your point.
 
Last year, I installed a Samsung 250 SSD in my Late 2008 MBP and noticed a bump in speed. It was a welcome upgrade to go along with the 8GB of RAM that I did a couple years ago. If you don't want to spend the money on the latest, it should get you by for the next year or two.
 
I still have a mid-2007 15" that I stuck a spare SSD in. Honestly, made a world of difference. I work on client machines of the same vintage running on HD's and I can't stand how bogged down they seem to get.

My machine is currently on 6GB RAM with that SSD and it's running the Yosemite preview without a hitch.
 
Grolubao said:
Investing 190€ in a 512gb SSD which will guarantee another 3 years of my laptop seems pretty good investment, but I see your point.
Click to expand...

There are no guarantees on a 6 year old laptop. You are gambling that there will be no major failures and no wear/tear parts that require fixing (trackpad, keyboard, battery).

The 512GB SSD will work on other computers, but you are gambling with that age of a computer, especially since it has resale value today.

Hope it works out!
 
leman said:
Its a 6 year old machine. I believe its a waste of money and effort to invest in it, but its your call.
Click to expand...

If the computer is otherwise fine and good enough for his needs, why not?

He'll be able to enjoy Yosemite and probably even 10.11 with a much more responsive system. Not to mention a more silent and cooler machine.

If he can buy 2 years extra that'd be a great investment.
 
Cloudsurfer said:
If the computer is otherwise fine and good enough for his needs, why not?

He'll be able to enjoy Yosemite and probably even 10.11 with a much more responsive system. Not to mention a more silent and cooler machine.

If he can buy 2 years extra that'd be a great investment.
Click to expand...

Exactly my point. It's hard to justify shelling out almost $2000 for a system used mostly for web browsing and light editing. Also consider I just replaced the battery for a brand new one and a new magsafe so I already invested here because otherwise I wouldn't even have a computer, so I hope this will last other 3 years
 
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