Worth upgrading 2006 MB with SSD?

[sinar]

Hi,

I have a 2006 white Macbook with 2.0 ghz Core 2 duo, 2GB ram and 80GB hard drive.

I don't use it very often now as its very slow, i use and iPad and an iMac mostly, but i was wondering if it was worth swapping the hard drive with an SSD, or if because it was so low spec it would not make much difference in speed (of opening apps mostly)

I don't use it for anything challenging, but it is quite frustrating to use as everything takes so long to open, I plan on getting a new macbook (air or pro, i've not made my mind up yet) sometime next year when new models come out, but thought an SSD might make a cheap upgrade that could make it more pleasant to use for the next 6 months to a year.

I'd only get a 64GB as i've never filled up the 80GB regular hard drive, as i use my iMac for all my photos and videos.

Thanks for reading, any advice appreciated.

 

[OllyW]

I recently added a 64GB Crucial SSD to my old 2006 MBP and it's made a world of difference. It seems to do everything miles quicker and has stopped the playback errors I used to get in Logic.

Well worth the £40 investment.

 

[sinar]

I recently added a 64GB Crucial SSD to my old 2006 MBP and it's made a world of difference. It seems to do everything miles quicker and has stopped the playback errors I used to get in Logic.

Well worth the £40 investment.

Thanks a lot, i've just ordered one from Crucial

 

[Xikum]

Its worth it. 64 GB SSDs are cheap enough for it to be a relatively low-cost upgrade, and it will genuinely make a world of difference when it comes to start up times/app loading times.

Also, youll have to put a fresh install of OS X on it so that should be a fresh start as well. It might even make it a more attractive buy when you come to sell it next year for somebody.

 

[torana355]

A 2006 MB with an SSD will be quicker in most day to day tasks then a brand new platter based HDD laptop. I just chucked a 256GB Samsung 830 SSD in my 2008 iMac and it now screams along.

 

[Zotaccian]

That machine however cannot use the full potential of todays SSD since its SATA -interface is only SATA1 which means maximum data transfer rate is 150MB / s. It will be faster than any regular drive though and also quieter.

 

[torana355]

That machine however cannot use the full potential of todays SSD since its SATA -interface is only SATA1 which means maximum data transfer rate is 150MB / s. It will be faster than any regular drive though and also quieter.

True but the random read and write speeds are not held back by sata1 and that is what makes an SSD based system quick. Sequential read and writes only matter when transferring large files.

 

[minifridge1138]

I say yes, but I'm a bit confused.

I have the same MacBook with the same specs, and it was not slow before I put in my SSD.

If yours is "very slow" then I'd suspect something else was also going on.

Is it always slow, or just when you're running several applications at once?
Do you have several applications that launch at login?

 

[MultiFinder17]

So long as the MacBook still does everything you need, yeah, go for it!

Besides, should you upgrade to a newer computer later, chances are that you can pop the SSD in the new computer as well

 

[boneskid1]

Do it you will likely never regret it, so long as you use your mb often I have the CD 1.83ghz and did the ssd swap it is faster all around and keeps the mb cooler when your are not doing strenuous things with it, and even then it is still quite a bit cooler than when I had my HDD in there

 

[sinar]

I say yes, but I'm a bit confused.

I have the same MacBook with the same specs, and it was not slow before I put in my SSD.

If yours is "very slow" then I'd suspect something else was also going on.

Is it always slow, or just when you're running several applications at once?
Do you have several applications that launch at login?

Maybe very slow is an exaggeration, but it is very slow compared to my 27" i7 iMac (not surprisingly), and feels much slower than my ipad. Mostly the issue is when launching apps.

Opening mail can take around 20 icon bounces (if you know what I mean) the same with Chrome, I often get the spinning beach ball while the apps open.

I usually only have mail and chrome open, I gave up using aperture and photoshop on it a few years ago, it was so frustrating.

It hasn't slowed down over time (and has recently had an hard drive erase and clean install with minimal apps installed) its always been this slow.

I suppose I realise it more after playing with MBP and MBA in the apple store.

I'm hoping my SSD will be delivered tomorrow so I can install it, ultimately I'd like a laptop to use for photoshop on the move, but I will be happy if the SSD makes this one more tolerable doing basic tasks until I can afford a new one.

 

[zackkmac]

You'll love it! I installed a Samsung SSD in mine and it runs extremely fast. I have the same MacBook as you, 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo except it has 4GB RAM. It reduced the boot time to less than 10 seconds and apps like Safari open instantly.

 

[sinar]

I finally got my new SSD installed, it arrived about a week ago but I did not have the right torx tool to take the old one out of the metal caddy thing.

I"m really pleased with it, boot time is now less than half the original time, safari used open in 8 icon bounces, now it opens instantly. It feels very fresh and like a totally different computer.

I still would not try to run things like photoshop (I think 2GB of ram would make that impractical), but i think for everyday basic tasks its made it much more pleasant and usable.

It seems to open basic apps faster than my i7 quad iMac with 16GB ram, I wish it was as easy to upgrade the hard drive on my iMac to an SSD, but i don't think thats something i would be confident to do myself.

Many thanks for all the replies, which made me confident to go ahead with the upgrade, and if anyone is reading this and is on the fence on wether an SSD would be a worthwhile upgrade to an older computer, I think you should go for it, I just wish i had done it earlier.