upgrade recommandations for 2007 MBP

[strawbale]

I've got a 2007 MBP (2.4GHz, 2GB RAM), with a nice 17" 1920x1200 matte screen, which I'd like to upgrade to be able to some photo editing. Currently (still) on 10.6.8.

Q1: Although officially only supporting max 4GB RAM, should I go for 6GB instead?

Q2: Would upgrading HD to SSD make a lot of difference when working with the smallish (max 14MB) RAW files from my camera (Olympus Stylus 1)?

Q3: Should I upgrade to Mountain Lion (or later) if I'd prefer to use Pixelmator (which needs OS X to support the RAW files, in my case minimum ML) instead of Gimp (which is fine with SL)?

Any advice much appreciated!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

SSD best bet...

I've got a 2007 MBP (2.4GHz, 2GB RAM), with a nice 17" 1920x1200 matte screen, which I'd like to upgrade to be able to some photo editing. Currently (still) on 10.6.8.

Q1: Although officially only supporting max 4GB RAM, should I go for 6GB instead?

Q2: Would upgrading HD to SSD make a lot of difference when working with the smallish (max 14MB) RAW files from my camera (Olympus Stylus 1)?

Q3: Should I upgrade to Mountain Lion (or later) if I'd prefer to use Pixelmator (which needs OS X to support the RAW files, in my case minimum ML) instead of Gimp (which is fine with SL)?

Any advice much appreciated!

Well the SSD will provide the best overall system upgrade and it should run ok, however that model only has sata 1.5 connection which will severely restrict your read/write speeds. This will limit the performance increase to not much better than a 7200rpm spinning drive although it will feel more snappy.

6gb of RAM will help as well but more in having more things open and within specific apps (ie photoshop) that will utilise a lot of RAM.

To be honest at 8 Years old I can't in all good conscience reccomend any upgrades, the cost of the upgrades could well be a waste of money. It is still an old computer with obsolete components and will never perform in the league of a modern laptop.

Also, of course at that age it could just suffer a catastophic logic board failure at any time....


If you still want to go ahead then this website will give you full system information and suggestions on what you need to upgrade...

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...k-pro-core-2-duo-2.4-17-santa-rosa-specs.html

 

[strawbale]

Well the SSD will provide the best overall system upgrade and it should run ok, however that model only has sata 1.5 connection which will severely restrict your read/write speeds. This will limit the performance increase to not much better than a 7200rpm spinning drive although it will feel more snappy.

6gb of RAM will help as well but more in having more things open and within specific apps (ie photoshop) that will utilise a lot of RAM.

To be honest at 8 Years old I can't in all good conscience reccomend any upgrades, the cost of the upgrades could well be a waste of money. It is still an old computer with obsolete components and will never perform in the league of a modern laptop.

Also, of course at that age it could just suffer a catastophic logic board failure at any time....


If you still want to go ahead then this website will give you full system information and suggestions on what you need to upgrade...

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...k-pro-core-2-duo-2.4-17-santa-rosa-specs.html

Thanks for your thoughts and advice!

Fully understand your reservations for any update on a 8yrs old MBP.
Bought it 2nd hand about 1.5 yrs ago as an 'portable' addition to my (also ageing) MacMini. Luckily came with 12 months warranty, which I needed for that catastrophic logic board replacement (after 9 months) and a new battery (after 3 months)
Still I'd like to keep any upgrade investments to a minimum, until I can afford a Mac that supports 4k @60Hz (which the 2014 MM doesn't, unfortunately), so probably stick to just upgrading the RAM.