What to do with mother’s MacBook

[timh]

I have a dilemma what to do with my mother’s MacBook. Since the update to the latest operating systems it’s really slow.
It is the late 2009, 2,26Ghz core2duo with 2GB RAM and stock 256GB hdd.
I could upgrade the hdd to a SSD relatively cheap but is it worth that investment? And will this resolve the issue?

Edit: After some extra reading an RAM upgrade might be an cheaper and easier idea. Wil this work? Corsair CM3X8GSDKIT1066 8GB DDR3 SODIMM 1066MHz
I know that 6GB is the max so how will this work do i have to get 2gb instead of 4 or can I jus put in 4 and it will use only 2 of that?

 

[Beachguy]

Adding the SSD and upping the memory will definitely speed it up. I have an HP of that vintage that I moved to SSD on and it was suddenly very much useful again. As to whether it is worth it, that I can't help with. But it WILL be much better, faster than when new.

If you keep it, I would recommend not upgrading the OS again.

 

[timh]

thanks for the quick reply, upgrading the os was not by choice. Importing photo's to iPhoto stopped working so we had to upgrade. I hope apple doesn't do something like this again.

 

[EugW]

I have those exact specs with my 2009 MacBook Pro. (See my signature.) Your mom's MacBook is basically my MacBook Pro with FireWire removed and a plastic shell.

It runs pretty well with SSD and 8 GB RAM. It also runs pretty well with SSD and 4 GB RAM.
It runs poorly with 2 GB RAM.
It runs poorly with hard drive.

If you do upgrade the memory, look for the EXACT specs including both the clock speed and the CAS delay timings. Some of the companies like Corsair I believe will actually sell Mac-specific RAM, which is just their regular RAM, but which has been spec'd exactly to match what is needed is Macs. You end up paying a few bucks more for the peace of mind. OTOH, if you get the wrong RAM that seems to match up but don't know the CAS timings, it may not work at all. Places like Crucial will provide the exact RAM for that specific model, but their RAM is pricey. Furthermore, they won't sell you 8 GB RAM for that model, since Apple only officially supported 4 GB. However, 8 GB should work unofficially.

 

[timh]

thank you for this elaborate reply!

 

[EugW]

BTW, note that that model sometimes will have a video glitch in h.264 video in High Sierra.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...cbook6-1-please-try-this-safari-test.2069901/

For this reason (and because High Sierra isn't as friendly with some older software as Sierra is), some people might prefer running Sierra on that machine until it gets fixed. OTOH, Photos in High Sierra is much better than in Sierra.

BTW, you're quite the lurker. 24 posts since 2010! And three of them are in this thread alone.

 

[timh]

BTW, note that that model sometimes will have a video glitch in h.264 video in High Sierra.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...cbook6-1-please-try-this-safari-test.2069901/

For this reason (and because High Sierra isn't as friendly with some older software as Sierra is), some people might prefer running Sierra on that machine until it gets fixed. OTOH, Photos in High Sierra is much better than in Sierra.

BTW, you're quite the lurker. 24 posts since 2010! And three of them are in this thread alone.

Thanks for the extra info. Yeah I just like to read up on the latest and greatest. In most threads everithing is sead before I come by so I dont see the need to post more of the same.

 

[motulist]

Just downgrade to the previous os version.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Just downgrade to the previous os version.

I had this model. Speaking from experience, it was MAVERICKS in 2013 that absolutely KILLED the machine.
In a way, Apple should never of allowed these OS updates on this model OR they should have better spec'd the machine at the time.
It was my first MacBook and I wasn't aware in those days on specs. To have a 3 year old Mac ruined is bad taste in my opinion.
I had to upgrade the RAM to 4GB in order for it to do anything. From then on, it was a tiring experience.

I've learnt that hard drives are unreliable and slow and 8GB of RAM is minimum on a MacBook.
Heck, in 2004 at university, my hard drive failed on my 18 month old iMac and cost me £200 to replace. I can tell you, that was a HUGE amount of money for a student. What made the entire thing worse was that I was half way through writing a 25,000 word dissertation!

So for me, it's SSD and plenty of RAM all of the way. Plus i believe in updating OS just for security! - the extra features are nice too!

 

[EugW]

^^^ The machine runs fine on Mavericks... with 4 GB and SSD.

However, I felt the need to upgrade my 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo MBP to 4GB and SSD long before Mavericks even came out.