Updating an older iMac

[Crzwilly]

I have recently upgraded to 10.9.5 on my early 2008 iMac 2.66Ghz. Model MB324LLA. Clearly a bad move as things are running very sluggish. I don't use it that much, but I really wanted to use Facetime with the family. I am going to upgrade the RAM to try deal with it. I've seen online that I will be able to use 6GB of RAM with this computer. Apple specs say only to use 4GB. Has anyone tried this and had success, fail? Should I be sticking with the recommended?
Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Intell]

They can take up to 6GB in the form of one 2GB stick and one 4GB stick. The 4GB sticks can be pricy. A total of 4GB is adequate for 10.9 to run well. You can also do FaceTime on any Mac running 10.6.8 or later, as long as there is a camera connected to it.

 

[Crzwilly]

They can take up to 6GB in the form of one 2GB stick and one 4GB stick. The 4GB sticks can be pricy. A total of 4GB is adequate for 10.9 to run well. You can also do FaceTime on any Mac running 10.6.8 or later, as long as there is a camera connected to it.

Thank you!

 

[prizm]

I have recently upgraded to 10.9.5 on my early 2008 iMac 2.66Ghz. Model MB324LLA. Clearly a bad move as things are running very sluggish. I don't use it that much, but I really wanted to use Facetime with the family. I am going to upgrade the RAM to try deal with it. I've seen online that I will be able to use 6GB of RAM with this computer. Apple specs say only to use 4GB. Has anyone tried this and had success, fail? Should I be sticking with the recommended?
Thanks for any and all advice.

I have a 2007 imac. Just threw a 512 Gig SSD in it. Runs like a dream now. So damn fast. Take the plunge. Take it apart and put an SSD in. Best decision you can make. While RAM is great, an SSD is amazing.

 

[nightlong]

I have a 2007 imac. Just threw a 512 Gig SSD in it. Runs like a dream now. So damn fast. Take the plunge. Take it apart and put an SSD in. Best decision you can make. While RAM is great, an SSD is amazing.

Will you upgrade this iMac to Yosemite? My late 2007 iMac is running Mavericks latest version very well. Wondering if I should leave it there now, if going to Yosemite will be pushing it too far. It has 4GB RAM. What brand SSD did you put in yours?

 

[Ray2]

OWC sells a 6gb set that works fine. Mac's are picky on memory, stick to OWC or Crucial. There's no shortage of people who have run into issues buying more memory. Throw in a 500 gb Crucial using an Adaptadrive and you'll have a very different computer for circa $350.

 

[scottbushey]

I as well have a 2008 24 inch iMac. I just upgraded the ram to 6 gb's from OWC. I am planning on adding an ssd. This may be a dumb question, given the obvious math, I have 2 drives now; both are 1 tb. One is external and the other internal. I back up to the external using CCC. Both drives have over 500 gb of data on them. I assume I need a 1 tb ssd?

I was thinking about just loading the OS to the new ssd w/ most of the obvious programs I use. In that, I would imagine I can just get a 240 gb ssd. An add'l question is, if id do go this route, can I still access, say, my documents that are on the external drive? Can I access progs that are on the external? How do I do this; just go to finder and click on the external drive and access the folder or prog I want?

Forgive me if these are dumb questions; I am an old guy.

 

[iamMacPerson]

OWC sells a 6gb set that works fine. Mac's are picky on memory, stick to OWC or Crucial. There's no shortage of people who have run into issues buying more memory. Throw in a 500 gb Crucial using an Adaptadrive and you'll have a very different computer for circa $350.

I have never found newer Macs to be picky with RAM, but I don't use the cheap DIMMS either. OWCs memory is usually very over priced but for a reason as I found out with my Mac Pro: they are very high quality DIMMS and are made with Macs in mind.

I find however that other brands work well too. Brands I use:

Crucial
Hynix
Samsung
Super Talent
Kingston

I was thinking about just loading the OS to the new ssd w/ most of the obvious programs I use. In that, I would imagine I can just get a 240 gb ssd. An add'l question is, if id do go this route, can I still access, say, my documents that are on the external drive? Can I access progs that are on the external? How do I do this; just go to finder and click on the external drive and access the folder or prog I want?

Forgive me if these are dumb questions; I am an old guy.

It depends, how is CCC backing up? A clone of the drive I am assuming? Honestly, what I would do is use the external drive for files that take a lot of space and access them when needed. Put the programs and OS on the SSD.

One way to figure out what is taking so much space is to use DaisyDisk. Its an app in the Mac App Store, but I think it is $5 or $10. It is worth it, trust me. I use it all the time and it works wonders.

 

[Ray2]

I as well have a 2008 24 inch iMac. I just upgraded the ram to 6 gb's from OWC. I am planning on adding an ssd. This may be a dumb question, given the obvious math, I have 2 drives now; both are 1 tb. One is external and the other internal. I back up to the external using CCC. Both drives have over 500 gb of data on them. I assume I need a 1 tb ssd?

I was thinking about just loading the OS to the new ssd w/ most of the obvious programs I use. In that, I would imagine I can just get a 240 gb ssd. An add'l question is, if id do go this route, can I still access, say, my documents that are on the external drive? Can I access progs that are on the external? How do I do this; just go to finder and click on the external drive and access the folder or prog I want?

Forgive me if these are dumb questions; I am an old guy.

The consideration I had was the cost of a 1tb versus a 500gb. Over 4 times more if memory serves me correctly. On an old Mac which, while it has an excellent reliability record, has seen its better days. I felt salvaging the ssd once I replace the iMac and mating it with a Thunderbolt enclosure was a decent idea. In my case, 1tb is too small for data files and excessive for a scratch disk.

A 256gb would be too small for me. I wanted 200gb open for current photography. No issues on accessing files on externals. There's a delay if the drive is sleeping but then its fine. Shortcuts can be employed as well. I'm not sure what the pros and cons are of having apps on an external. Many will run but I don't know about all. Their prefs and app support files will be on the internal. Consider what happens when one app needs to access another. If its looking in Apps and its on an external, no idea what would happen. Too messy for me. Others may know better on this one.

In my case I was running a 750 internal and a 1.5 (data) and a 2.0 (backup). Unbalanced and the 500gb made it easier.

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I have never found newer Macs to be picky with RAM, but I don't use the cheap DIMMS either. OWCs memory is usually very over priced but for a reason as I found out with my Mac Pro: they are very high quality DIMMS and are made with Macs in mind.

We're not talking "newer" with a 2008/9 Mac. Which is picky on memory and is being pushed beyond what Apple specs as max memory.

You have been lucky. There's certainly no shortage of people finding ram, from many of the sources you quote, as not being compatible with Mac's. Not worth my time, I'll pay OWC and Crucial their premium.