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Alexwithad

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 27, 2009
323
1
USA
I'm looking to make a minor upgrade to the mid 2009 2.26 core2duo. Right now it has 4 gb of ram and 320 gb 5400 rpm hard drive, I was thinking of either upgrading my hard drive to 7200 rpm or would it be worth it to upgrade to 8gb ram which is only $65? I'd rather go with a new hd and maybe even get the seagate momentux xt hybrid but if the ram would be more noticeable then I'll go with that for now and get the hdd later.
 
Forget the RAM, just go and get a SSD.

The Momentus XT is a bit troublesome in Macs, according to a few folks on this forum.

Cool so I'm definitely upgrading my hd now. I'm thinking either a nice large 7200 rpm hd or the 500 momentus xt hybrid.
 
Forget the RAM, just go and get a SSD.

The Momentus XT is a bit troublesome in Macs, according to a few folks on this forum.

I have the Momentus XT 500Gb in my late 2008 15". It's recommended!

Performance seems subjectively much snappier as I mainly use the same apps (and hence exploit the 'hybrid' nature to the maximum). I'm on firmware SD25 and have had no problems so far (fingers crossed).

There is no noticeable vibration, however there is increased noise compared to the stock 5400rpm HDD. Not sure on the impact on battery life as rarely use this laptop without a charger.

Some people on this forum have had problems with this drive, but I think a large number are completely satisfied as well. Just be sure to keep backups!
 
A solid-state drive will give you the best results, but it is also the most expensive option. I feel like a 7200 RPM drive will be more noticeable over a 5400 RPM drive than 8 GB of RAM will be over 4 GB of RAM, depending on what you are doing of course.

Monitor your RAM usage and determine whether or not 4 GB is actually enough for what you use the computer for. If so, then I would surely look into a regular 7200 RPM or hybrid drive.
 
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