Worth upgrading 2010 unibody macbook

[marshallbedsaul]

Hello,
my wife unibody 2.4gh macbook is rather slow these days. Her task are pretty simple web browsing and streaming video services. But she gets the dreaded beach ball a lot.

So I was thinking of going with 8gb of ram and SSD, but is the cost worth it at this point?

other option is buy a macbook air.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[c8rlo]

i'm running 8gb RAM and have an 256gb SSD; it's like a new machine. both the RAM and SSD are relatively cheap nowadays. you can catch sales of an 256gb SSD for under $80 on Amazon, Newegg and other sites.

8gb should be more than enough for her needs. just make sure you use this specific RAM: (2) 4gb 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500). Crucial makes both the RAM and SSD, just search for other brands and what's cost effective for you.

 

[marshallbedsaul]

i have the same MBP, i'm running 8gb RAM and have an 256gb SSD; it's like a new machine and it'll extend the life of her MBP. both the RAM and SSD are relatively cheap nowadays. you can catch sales of an 256gb SSD for under $80 on Amazon, Newegg and other sites.

our MBPs' can support 16GB, may be overkill; but 8gb should be more than enough for her needs. just make sure you use this specific RAM: (2) 4gb 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500). Crucial makes both the RAM and SSD, just search for other brands and what's cost effective for you.

Thanks a lot, will upgrade the ram first. And be on the look out with blackfriday for the SSD

 

[c8rlo]

you don't have to wait until Black Friday, they have daily sales for the 256gb SSDs' for under $80...

 

[pjfan]

SSD will be a world of difference - its not worth waiting until Black Friday.

 

[mojolicious]

I've got the same model with 8GB, a 250GB SSD, and OS X 10.9. It's absolutely fine with CS 5.5 Photoshop, Ilustrator, InDesign etc. Do it!

 

[MultiFinder17]

Absolutely, these are still wonderful machines. My mother has been using one as her primary computer for years now; I just recently put in an SSD and bumped her to 6GB RAM, and she continually raves to me about how blindingly fast it is.

 

[throAU]

Hello,
my wife unibody 2.4gh macbook is rather slow these days. Her task are pretty simple web browsing and streaming video services. But she gets the dreaded beach ball a lot.

So I was thinking of going with 8gb of ram and SSD, but is the cost worth it at this point?

other option is buy a macbook air.

Thanks for the advice.

Performance will definitely feel like a new machine (vs. what it currently is), however at 5 years old i'd seriously consider replacing hardware - the newer CPUs have hardware AES encryption which will make file vault much faster, GPU performance will be much faster, SSD performance is much faster, the WIFI is much, much faster (802.11ac vs. 802.11 G or N), and the big one: you're putting money into a machine that is well out of warranty to purchase upgrades that will not be usable on a new machine. If the system board, screen, or anything on that current machine dies, you've blown your money.

Possibly also relevant to your wife - the new machines can do airplay video, whilst I don't believe the current machine can.

If she starts watching something on the Mac she could just direct the video to an AppleTV without messing with cables, etc.

 

[pastrychef]

I have a MacBook with very similar specs, except mine has a 2GHz CPU. After upgrading to 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, it was like a new machine.

As others have stated, there's really not much reason to wait for a sale on an SSD. 240-256GB SSDs can be found everyday for about $70-80. Personally, I think that an SSD would make the system "feel" faster than a RAM upgrade.