Squeezing the life out of early 2008 macbook

[GtotheK]

Hi y'all,

I'm looking to squeeze and extend the life of my early 2008 2.4 core 2 duo macbook. I've bumped it to 4 GB RAM early one. I'm installing a 240 GB OWC Mercury SSD tmrw. I'm hoping this will make a big diff. I just upgraded to Lion too.

What else can I do to increase performance? Is there any way to upgrade the airport card to the new "ac" standard? Oran adapter that can be used to bump up my wifi speeds?

Does anyone know the latest version of Microsoft Office that will work with Lion and where I can find it? I currently have 2008, but its ****.

Thanks!

 

[jazz1]

Hi y'all,

I'm looking to squeeze and extend the life of my early 2008 2.4 core 2 duo macbook. I've bumped it to 4 GB RAM early one. I'm installing a 240 GB OWC Mercury SSD tmrw. I'm hoping this will make a big diff. I just upgraded to Lion too.

What else can I do to increase performance? Is there any way to upgrade the airport card to the new "ac" standard? Oran adapter that can be used to bump up my wifi speeds?

Does anyone know the latest version of Microsoft Office that will work with Lion and where I can find it? I currently have 2008, but its ****.

Thanks!

The RAM and especially the SSD will help, it did on my late 2008 Macbook Pro. The other thing that helped for surfing is to block ads (I whitelist sites I like to support them). The ad blocking turbocharged all my Macs and IOS devices while using Safari! Of course you can do this with alternative browsers.

El Capitan I know has had some issues, but overall my late 2008 Macbook Pro is running faster under El Capitan vs. any previous OS X release. Office 2011 wouldn't work until a Microsoft update was made available. I understand that the newest version of El Capitan does support Office 2016. I'm using 2011.

I also use Clean My Mac with great success. I know others in these forums claimed issues, but I've not seen them. I'm using Clean My Mac on my 2015 12" Macbook with no problems.

At one time I had a crazy idea to add another SSD (to RAID them) using OWC's adapter that allows you to install a second hard drive where the CD/DVD is. i'm sure that would be one of those diminishing benefits vs. cost. But back in the day mechanical hard drives in a RAID really kicked on my Apple desktops! I'm sure a single SSD replacement of the old fashioned mechanical hard drive is the way to go.

One thing I love is the 2008's easy access to the hard drive and RAM upgrades! Like popping the hood of a classic Mustang

Hope this helps.

 

[Jack Neill]

Hi y'all,

I'm looking to squeeze and extend the life of my early 2008 2.4 core 2 duo macbook. I've bumped it to 4 GB RAM early one. I'm installing a 240 GB OWC Mercury SSD tmrw. I'm hoping this will make a big diff. I just upgraded to Lion too.

What else can I do to increase performance? Is there any way to upgrade the airport card to the new "ac" standard? Oran adapter that can be used to bump up my wifi speeds?

Does anyone know the latest version of Microsoft Office that will work with Lion and where I can find it? I currently have 2008, but its ****.

Thanks!

I dropped 8Gb of ram and a PNY 240 SSD in my early 2009 5,2, It was a HUGE difference, El Cap has been a nice little boost too. If you are going to run a older OS X I say go with ML or Mavericks. Lion sucked on every Mac I put it on, I liked ML WAY better. Office 2011 should run just fine

 

[Delmar]

I dropped 8Gb of ram and a PNY 240 SSD in my early 2009 5,2, It was a HUGE difference, El Cap has been a nice little boost too. If you are going to run a older OS X I say go with ML or Mavericks. Lion sucked on every Mac I put it on, I liked ML WAY better. Office 2011 should run just fine

What model PNY 240GB SSD did you install?