Upgrade OS in MacBook Pro mid 2009?

[Askerin]

Hello everyone,

I have a MacBook Pro mid 2009, where in 2016 I replaced the RAM to 8 GB and put an SDS in.
It still runs on Snow Leopard. The laptop has become slow despite the RAM and SDS, some websites won't open (not possible to update Firefox any more) and I would like to upgrade from Adobe CS5 to Adobe CC.

So my question is if it is possible to upgrade the OS on this machine and what would be the consequences.
I have not tried it out yet, since it has been working very well and I am afraid to break it.
I use it for my freelance work, Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects.

What do you think, would an update of the OS (which one to? El Capitain?) make the laptop faster and allow me to use Adobe CC? I would be greateful for any tips. Please let me know if you need any more information.

Many thanks.

(Model MacBookPro5,3
SSD Samsung 850 EVO, 500GB, 2.5", Basic , SATA3
Corsair Mac Memory SO-DDR3 8GB Kit PC3-106 2x 4GB, 1066MHz
Prozessor Intel Core 2 Duo)

 

[robvas]

You can put El Capitan 10.11 on it

 

[MSastre]

I'm running El Capitan on a 17" early 2009 MBP with a Crucial SSD and maxed ram.

 

[Fishrrman]

El Cap should be a good upgrade that will restore functionality with Safari in particular.

As to whether El Cap will work with the Adobe software you want, can't say -- I don't use Adobe products.

 

[MSastre]

I've got CS3 on my 2009, but moved away from Adobe long ago, so can't say how it performs with newer Adobe products.

 

[Askerin]

OK, so at least El Capitain will not worsen things, so it is worth a try.
I assume it would be possible to go back to Snow Leopard if needed, correct?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

OK, so at least El Capitain will not worsen things, so it is worth a try.
I assume it would be possible to go back to Snow Leopard if needed, correct?

It will be possible if you have the disks still. However if you update apps to run with El Capitan you may have trouble rolling those back without the original disks a good bootable clone of your drive would be your best bet at this point. Use carbon copy cloner.

 

[Askerin]

Good point, I do not have the discs any more and would not be able to install the apps from scratch. So, with carbon copy cloner I could restore the laptop to the state before the upgrade to el capitain, with OS and apps as they were, right? That would be perfect.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

The best way to "get back to where you once belonged" (if an OS upgrade doesn't work out) is to use CarbonCopyCloner to create a bootable cloned backup JUST BEFORE you attempt the upgrade.

Then, if things ain't right, just do this:
1. BOOT FROM THE CLONED BACKUP
2. ERASE the internal drive -- NUKE IT back to "zero"
3. Open CCC and "RE-clone" the backup BACK TO the internal drive.

It will then be "like you'd never left"...

 

[Askerin]

this sounds very good and I will definitely do that, thank you! I would hate to destroy this laptop that worked for years without any problems at all

 

[Romanesq]

this sounds very good and I will definitely do that, thank you! I would hate to destroy this laptop that worked for years without any problems at all

Shoot I have an early 2008 Penryn, older than yours and with an SSD drive, maxed RAM to 6GB it's a whole new machine: better than new. Also, I installed High Sierra using a patch software and it's working very, very well.

Used this guy's patch and it worked out perfectly. Just had to go to reinstall from the USB set up with the Patch to redo the a) recovery disk and b) ambient light.

You only have to do it once. If you upgrade the High Sierra in an Apple release, you just ran the patch again and it's fine. I've done it several times.

See: http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/

 

[Askerin]

Thank you Romanesq. I think I will not dare to do this, sounds rather complicated for my abilities, but I will keep it in mind.

 

[EugW]

Backup!

Upgrade to 10.11 El Capitan. You already have SSD and 8 GB RAM so that’s great. Or consider Sierra. Dosdude1’s Sierra patch with HFS is pretty easy. The main problem is having to do a clean install. I’m running High Sierra on that machine but High Sierra isn’t fully done yet (and won’t be until summer), plus there are more incompatibilities with old legacy software. Adobe CS5/6 is problematic on newer versions of macOS but you said you’re upgrading that anyway.

As for Snow Leopard, I don’t understand how anyone can use that on a main machine in 2018. IMO it’s been unusable for several years now due to lack of modern browser support.

 

[Askerin]

Snow Leopard has been working great up until the last few months when certain websites stopped loading due to the browser not being up do date. But it had not affected me greatly until now.

I will make a list of all the software I use to check how they work with El Capitain (since Sierra ist not fully done yet). Adobe CS5 seems to be problematic but I am planning to change to Adobe CC anyway.
Then I will make a backup with carboncopycloner and try my luck with the OS update.
I will definitely pick a time when no client is waiting for their project

 

[EugW]

Snow Leopard has been working great up until the last few months when certain websites stopped loading due to the browser not being up do date. But it had not affected me greatly until now.

I will make a list of all the software I use to check how they work with El Capitain (since Sierra ist not fully done yet). Adobe CS5 seems to be problematic but I am planning to change to Adobe CC anyway.

Sierra is done. High Sierra is not. And High Sierra is the one I was saying has more software incompatibilities. Sierra is not bad for that.

 

[Askerin]

ah, OK, sorry, I misunderstood.

 

[EugW]

OTOH, High Sierra is the only one that is compatible with HEVC and HEIC. That might be important in the future for the occasions you may need to deal with these files.

Mind you, that machine is too slow for HEVC anyway.

 

[Askerin]

This is interesting to know, thanks. Yes, I will need to replace the machine not so far in the future, but I want to try and make it last as long as possible.

edit: What specs would be needed to handle HEVC? In terms of a MacBook Pro.