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[Macbook 7.1 - mid 2010] RAM & SSD Upgrade?

D

Daftsky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 31, 2016
8
2
Hi guys,

My mother owns a white unibody Macbook 7.1 from October 2010 (Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM).
With Mac OS X 10.6 on it, now a lot of websites just simply don't load (just crashes) - and support has been killed for Chrome/Mozilla etc..

Her usage is VERY modest; by that I mean she only has 15GB of data on her hard drive: 8000 photos, some podcasts, and a bunch of word documents: that's it. She uses her computer to: browse internet, send emails, watch videos on youtube, listen to podcasts, look at pictures, and type documents on word.

I tried upgraded to newer version of Mac OS (after a clean wipe), websites just keep crashing - and OS Sierra just is too laggy to be usable. My question: is an SSD & RAM upgrade a good way to enable her mac to keep running for her usage ?

I could either stick 8GB or even 16GB of ram + an SSD in a couple of minutes only; would that allow the laptop to have a serious second breath, and eventually upgrade to Sierra or at least something over OS 10.9 to get working apps (Mozilla etc..) ?

Anyone have some experience/feedback to share?

Would be great...i don't want to spend 100/150$ if it's useless ^^
Have a great day!
 
I'm still using a white MacBook from late 2007 running snow leopard. Never had a website crashing. I suggest you to update ram and put a SSD. While doing that you can clean the fans and repaste the cpu. That will make it last longer. I'm not sure about your model btw, check on ifix maybe?
 
Thanks for the swift reply Lou-X ! Did you upgrade/ram & SSD on yours ?
I checked on ifix & everymac.com and it's very straightforward for the White Macbook 7.1.

The issue is even after doing a clean wipe, reinstalling Snow Leopard, when opening outlook.com and logging in the email; safari systematically crashes :(
We didn't used to have this problem as we had Chrome installer before, but since they stopped supporting 10.6, it refused to open claiming the Operating system was too old.
 
Yes, I updated my SSD and maxed out ram (to 4gb lol) during the years. That is a must if you want to extend the life of those macbooks. I think it's very important to clean the inside and put the thermal paste on the cpu, I did that 3 times at least.

I don't know about safari, I don't use it. I use Chrome 64bit 49.0.2623. Sadly it's discontinued and I am looking for a laptop replacement soon, but I can assure you that that version is working.

I also think you should check which OS version your model can run, I'm still using snow leopard and it rocks. I'm using it for work (meh) so I think your mother could run it for casual use
 
Thanks Lou, I appreciate your response :)
You can apparently run OS Sierra on any macbook past mid-2009, but then they do recommend minimum 4GB of ram.

I'm thinking of sticking a 60GB SSD (honestly my mother will never fill it up lol, she also has an external 500GB HDD) - and 16GB of Ram; would cost 140$. (50$ SSD & 90$ RAM)

Could go for 8GB of ram, only costs 50$ - maybe 16GB is overkill ?
 
Probably 8 would be enough. Anyway remember thermal paste since you going to open it it's a good idea to clean and repaste
 
Lou - you have been a great help !
I reinstalled a previous version of Chrome in the meantime - and no problems opening Outlook.com :)
At least my mother can now access her email until we can upgrade the internals.

Will go for 8GB of Ram & the 60GB SSD.

Now regarding thermal paste; sorry to bother you again with questions....but what should I do ?
Any links on the procedure I should follow ? I'm quite OK manipulating PCs etc..just never did this before :)
 
I think if you Google it you will find a good tutorial, it's not difficult. For me the hardest part was opening the MacBook and closing it again lol. You know, just try to don't have too many screws left at the end! I've been helped by a friend who assembled pcs. Buy paste for cpu for few bucks and it will keep your cpu from getting too hot in future, since original paste is deteriorating during years
 
Yeah i checked it out and it does look quite tough...a lot of different phases where they say "be careful this is very easy to break" lol :)

I'll clean the inside, upgrade RAM & SSD - and we'll take it from there.
Thanks again for your support ! I'll come back & post to let you know how it runs after the upgrade :)
 
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