Lion on an old MacBook Pro

[15danielp]

I'd love to use these new iCloud features, but my computer runs Snow Leopard.

I have a 2006 MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. It runs sluggishly, but well enough for my current needs. Would upgrading to Lion be a bad idea? Would Lion actually perform worse the Snow Leopard on my old computer?

 

[mouthster]

I'd love to use these new iCloud features, but my computer runs Snow Leopard.

I have a 2006 MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. It runs sluggishly, but well enough for my current needs. Would upgrading to Lion be a bad idea? Would Lion actually perform worse the Snow Leopard on my old computer?

I have a 2008 MBP with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM and it runs great. These specs aren't miles away from what you have.

I also have a 2010 MacBook Air with only a 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB of SDRAM and it works great there too.

I would imagine that it would run fine on your machine, and if you really wanted to see a speed boost you could replace your HDD with an SSD.

 

[rossip]

I'd love to use these new iCloud features, but my computer runs Snow Leopard.

I have a 2006 MacBook Pro, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. It runs sluggishly, but well enough for my current needs. Would upgrading to Lion be a bad idea? Would Lion actually perform worse the Snow Leopard on my old computer?

I'd definitely update to Lion but not after some upgrades. I'd max out the ram ( I think you can install 4 GB on your system but it will only address 3 GB) and possibly upgrade the hard drive. I'd get everything from OWC. Also I'd definitely Clean Install Lion. It's annoying as you must backup all your data, but it's always been worth it to me as it gives you a mac running as perfect as you ever could get. Here are some specific recommendations:

3GB OWC ram
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/53IM2DDR3GBK/

750GB 7200RPM DIY Bundle
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/YST9750420AS/

You may want to just get a single 2 GB ram dimm if you already have 2 X 1GB dimms, which is here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S2GB/

Good luck!

 

[15danielp]

Thanks for the great replies. Looks like I should upgrade the RAM. That's not a bad price.

 

[APtalent]

Your mac meets the minimum requirements for OS X Lion. Boosting 2 to 3 GBs won't hurt.