Old Macbook Pro Question

[knoxtown]

My old MacbookPro (Mid-2009) is still alive apparently. It's the core 2 duo with 4gb of ram (2x2). I'm going to give it to a friend of mine, but i noticed that Ramjet is selling an 8gb replacement set for a $100. Just wondering if you all think the increase in ram will make much difference on such an old machine...?

He's only going to use it for the occasional light photo editing, safari, keynote etc, no games or anything crazy. I'm willing to spend a little money to beef it up a little, but only if it's actually worth it.

Wondering if you have any thoughts?

Thanks!!!

 

[mtneer]

$100 is probably close to 50% of the residual value of that machine. Having said that, replacing it with even a refurb is several hundred dollars more than $100.

If your friend is a light user as you described, I would just have him use the machine as is. Apple actually sells new computers today with 4GB RAM as the base model for light users.

If your friends' requirements escalate at some point in the future, he may be bottlenecked more by the 5 year old engine and the HDD rather than RAM. At that time, it maybe worth having a conversation to move to something more contemporary than a 2009 machine, even if its a refurb.

 

[poiihy]

For his needs, doubling the RAM would not be a good improvement. Don't waste the money. I use a Mid-2009 MBP. It can run 6 versions of Mac OS X, from Leopard to Yosemite. Next release of Mac OS (OS XI? ) would probably not work though, but since Apple supports the latest four operating systems, it will last a long time!

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$100 is probably close to 50% of the residual value of that machine. Having said that, replacing it with even a refurb is several hundred dollars more than $100.

If your friend is a light user as you described, I would just have him use the machine as is. Apple actually sells new computers today with 4GB RAM as the base model for light users.

If your friends' requirements escalate at some point in the future, he may be bottlenecked more by the 5 year old engine and the HDD rather than RAM. At that time, it maybe worth having a conversation to move to something more contemporary than a 2009 machine, even if its a refurb.

Mid-2009 MBPs on ebay range between 350-600.

 

[brdeveloper]

My old MacbookPro (Mid-2009) is still alive apparently. It's the core 2 duo with 4gb of ram (2x2). I'm going to give it to a friend of mine, but i noticed that Ramjet is selling an 8gb replacement set for a $100. Just wondering if you all think the increase in ram will make much difference on such an old machine...?

He's only going to use it for the occasional light photo editing, safari, keynote etc, no games or anything crazy. I'm willing to spend a little money to beef it up a little, but only if it's actually worth it.

Wondering if you have any thoughts?

Thanks!!!

If this is a Macbook which supports DDR3-1066MHz RAM, $100 seems to be rather expensive for 2x4GB. They actually cost around $70-80, even the ones tagged as "Mac compatible".
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Chann...d=1417324031&sr=8-5&keywords=2x4+gb+ddr3+1066


Also, a 240GB Crucial M500 SSD costs less than $100. In short, for around $160 you have a computer capable of running Mavericks and Yosemite even better than a base Mac Mini or base iMac. It's not as good in the photo/video editing aspect, but for browsing it doesn't differentiate too much from a current Mac. Even for editing, a SSD and more RAM can make an older Mac match speeds from current ones that have only 4GB and standard HDDs.

 

[poiihy]

Oh! If that RAM is so expensive, make sure it is NOT 1600MHz (PC3-12800) as it will not work. I mistakenly thought my 2009 MBP took 1600MHz RAM because I was looking at the wrong table on Apple's specifications, so I bought the wrong RAM (on ebay). It did not work and I had to return it. So make sure it is not 1600MHz (PC3-12800) or it will NOT work. 1333MHz would probably work but I strongly recommend you don't get that. Get 1066MHz RAM (PC3-8500).