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Macbook Late 2008 upgrade?

I

iExposed

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 25, 2012
3
0
What would you recommend for primary use(s) of editing photos & video using Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Premier Pro & After-Effects.

Current Setup:
Late 2008 Aluminum Macbook 2.4GHz
4GB RAM
500GB 7200rpm HDD
Leopard OSX

1) Upgrade to 8GB RAM
2) Upgrade to SSD (though I think the price/storage is still high)
3) Save for a MBP

Thanks!
 
1. It should cost around 50 USD.

2. SSD will cost between 100 to 300 USD and more, if you want a bigger capacity.

3. That is probably the best choice, though a RAM upgrade shouldn't hold you back from saving enough. Depending on what you do in AE and PS and LR, a dedicated GPU might speed up things.

I use AE and PS on a 2009 MBP with the 9400M and 9600M GT combo, and often the 9400M suffices my needs.
 
I'm debating the same thing ...

I upgraded to 4 GB right away, but have considered pushing to 6 or 8 even. Don't know if I need to, but want to.

I was looking at an SSD but didn't want to give up the optical drive and didn't want to lose capacity. My 160gb hard drive is filling up quickly (we have a 20 month old so we have lots of pictures and videos), so I was looking at a 256gb SSD from Crucial. That's about $400 including tax/shipping/transfer kit.

My MacBook will turn 4 later this year. Perhaps the money is better put towards a new machine. We would probably go iMac in the office and keep the MacBook for mobility and are adding an iPad when the 3 comes out. iMac/iPad for me, MacBook for my wife.

If I go ahead with the iMac purchase, I'll move all the music and non-home videos to the iMac and maybe put in a smaller SSD in the MacBook just to give it a breath of fresh air for my wife.

Lots to consider!

It's a tough decision. I'd save for a new machine and sell your old one (if that's a consideration).
 
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I think I'll try the 8GB RAM upgrade first but ponying up for an SSD would probably be better spent saving for a new MBP.

Is the 2.4GHz really being taxed when encoding H.264 files to an intermediate format in Premier? What about for RAW stills in Lightroom?
 
I have a late 2008 Macbook running Lion. I upgraded my RAM to 8GB a little over a year ago and I just upgraded my HDD to an SSD this past week. Overall, I think the upgrades were worth it and I'll probably keep this machine for another year or two before buying a new one. I spent about $220 in upgrades total. It's really up to you though on what you feel is worth it.
 
Jayp03 said:
I have a late 2008 Macbook running Lion. I upgraded my RAM to 8GB a little over a year ago and I just upgraded my HDD to an SSD this past week. Overall, I think the upgrades were worth it and I'll probably keep this machine for another year or two before buying a new one. I spent about $220 in upgrades total. It's really up to you though on what you feel is worth it.
Click to expand...

What size SSD?
 
I just swapped upgraded to 8GB RAM from 4GB and that definitely helped with the amount of beach balling. Guess the next step would be to slap in a SSD or get a new rig for photo/video editing. Might actually try building a Hackintosh :p
 
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