Upgrade Tips for my Late 2008 uMBP.

[vader1990]

Hi,

I own the 2.4 GHz, 2GB RAM, 9600M-GT MBP. I'm looking to upgrade this machine.

I was looking at either a 4GB (or 6 or 8? idk) RAM upgrade, or going with a SSD.

Can you guys please tell me which one (or both) I should look into? Also if you could link me to some potential products (like from newegg or where ever) that I should buy, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!!

 

[vader1990]

Wow, no responses? Anyone who has the same model as me, what have you (if applicable) upgraded in your machine?

Thanks!!

 

[sadcamper]

What is it you'd like to improve? What do you use the machine for?

 

[vader1990]

What is it you'd like to improve? What do you use the machine for?

I want it to be just more responsive and "snappy" in opening programs. I usually have like Safari open with like 4-6 tabs, Word and Excel open, with like 1-3 files opens in each, plus I have mail running, and sometimes iChat and iTunes.In some occasions, I have MATLAB open as well. When all this is running I often get the spinning beach ball a lot, and just experience slowness.

Thanks!!

 

[sadcamper]

You don't really need any of this, but if you want to speed things up and have some fun doing it, bump up the RAM to 8gb:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3

and throw in an SSD (whichever capacity you can afford):
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/2.5

I'm sure someone else here can give you specifics on which exact drive has the best performance.

The SSD will speed up boot times, opening programs, etc. and will probably show the most out of upgrades, but memory will definitely improve things as well if the SSD options are too pricey.

If you want to have even more fun, throw in an Optibay and put your old haddrive in it:
http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/

 

[CubusX]

Go with more.

If I were upgrading my Late 2008 MBP 15" I would go with the 8GB of RAM (more is always better) and the SSD.

I installed a 512 GB SSD in my MBP and it has helped with accessing certain programs (Adobe CS5) and other files.

Well worth it.

It honestly sucks that we can't use 8 GB of RAM in the Late 2008 models. I would love to be able to upgrade my 4 GB of RAM to 8 GB instaed of spending almost $4,000 on a new MBP.

 

[scaredpoet]

FWIW, if you need to choose one over the other, then I would recommend the RAM upgrade over the SSD.

 

[vader1990]

Just out of curiosity, I'm hearing talk that the late 2008 2.4 Ghz uMBP (the first gen unibodies) can only take 6GB of RAM? Is this true? Will my computer not be able to handle 8GB? (I have 10.6.4)

 

[runebinder]

Just out of curiosity, I'm hearing talk that the late 2008 2.4 Ghz uMBP (the first gen unibodies) can only take 6GB of RAM? Is this true? Will my computer not be able to handle 8GB? (I have 10.6.4)

I used to have that model, and no you can't upgrade it to 8GB but might be able to get away with 6.

https://www.macrumors.com/2008/10/24/new-macbook-pro-does-not-support-8gb-ram-for-now/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/573906/

I'd go for upgrading it to 4GB RAM and an SSD if you can afford it, should give you a very nice boost.

 

[iSpoody 1243]

first you should upgrade your ram to 4gb
i dont know much about the 6gb ram upgrade
i would think the ram would operate slower with unmatched ram sticks
if that isnt enough get an ssd
these are expensive.
if that isnt enough, get a new computer 😛