My old MBP

[dazzjazz]

Hi,
I have an old MBP - a 17" 2.33 GHZ intel Core 2 Duo with 3 GB Ram running OSX 10.5.8

it's pretty slow now - is there anything I can do to make it zippy again?

Thanks

Darren

 

[Rizzm]

Hi,
I have an old MBP - a 17" 2.33 GHZ intel Core 2 Duo with 3 GB Ram running OSX 10.5.8

it's pretty slow now - is there anything I can do to make it zippy again?

Thanks

Darren

What are you doing when you notice it running slowly? First thing that jumps out at me is the RAM. 8GB is steadily becoming a new standard for smooth multitasking so I'd put that in for sure.

 

[dazzjazz]

It's always slow, no matter what, even after a reboot.
The motherboard is maxed out at 3 GB RAM - nothing I can do about it.
Darren

 

[mwdmeyer]

Reformat
OR
Install either a new 7200rpm HDD or even better an SSD.

I installed an SSD into my 2.4GHz First Gen Unibody MBP and it works much much quicker.

Then upgrade to the latest OS.

 

[pisk]

old eh?!

Could very well be a software problem -- too much malware / your disk is full / too many background jobs / ... I'd start by inspecting your system, before buying new hardware.

For a hardware test, see here.

I see absolutely no reason why an "old" (!!) 2.33Ghz C2D computer with 3GB of RAM should be "too slow" after boot. Or for any common use for that matter, except perhaps hardcore gaming or scientific computing.

 

[dazzjazz]

Do you think going to 10.6 then 10.7 would work OK?
I'd need to order a disk from Apple - app store won't work.

Darren

 

[mwdmeyer]

Do you think going to 10.6 then 10.7 would work OK?
I'd need to order a disk from Apple - app store won't work.

Darren

Yes but do a fresh install and not an upgrade. I find 10.7/Lion a bit lame and liked 10.6 a lot. Looking forward to 10.8

3GB of ram is getting a bit low these days.

I have 4GB in mine and it is always swapping/maxed out.

 

[dazzjazz]

Cool - I'll order Snow Leopard from Apple.
I have a Time Machine BU - will my applications work once I get them from Time Machine?

Darren

 

[mwdmeyer]

Cool - I'll order Snow Leopard from Apple.
I have a Time Machine BU - will my applications work once I get them from Time Machine?

Darren

Yeah most of the time they work fine. Although you might need to update them to support the newer OS.