Tweaking a 2008 iMac

[CoMoMacUser]

I've got an early 2008 iMac that I'd like to keep using until the new Minis come out. It's running a 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, and I doubled the RAM to 4GB about a year ago, which reduced the beach ball appearances quite a bit -- until Mavericks. The HD has about 45 GB left.

I'm looking for any tips for improving performance with a machine of this vintage. I usually have Outlook, Word, Skype and a browser going simultaneously.

Thanks.

 

[fig]

Swap out the drive for an SSD.

If you've had the machine for 4+ years you should replace the hard drive anyway, and putting in an SSD will give you a really nice perceived speed bump for day to day tasks. I did the same to my late '06 iMac a while back and the difference was impressive.

It's a pain though, ifixit has some good guides on how to do it.