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User profile for user: w7lej1
w7lej1 Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

'09 MacBook - upgrade - possible, worthwhile?

Seeking the wisdom of the community, please. My wife has an '09 MacBook. She is not by any means a "power user" - e-mail, online browsing/shopping, a little bit of social media. Details of her machine:


Model Name: MacBook

 Model Identifier: MacBook5,2

 Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

 Processor Speed: 2 GHz

 Number of Processors: 1

 Total Number of Cores: 2

 L2 Cache: 3 MB

 Memory: 2 GB

 Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

 Boot ROM Version: MB52.0088.B05

 SMC Version (system): 1.38f5

 Serial Number (system): xxxx

 Hardware UUID: A1163286-2F96-5212-A183-94B26ED443DF

 Sudden Motion Sensor:

 State: Enabled


I'm thinking of purchasing/installing additional memory (DDR2 667 MHz). Right now, I'm not inclined to replace the hard drive. Seems to me 2 GHz processor speed is plenty for what she does. Battery was recently replaced. Machine works fine, just very slow.


So - what am I overlooking that will rise up and bite me? Any insights, suggestions? Thanks in advance!





MacBook

Posted on Jan 10, 2020 3:32 PM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
55,874 points

Posted on Jan 10, 2020 3:50 PM

This is a MacBook (early 2009) which can only be upgraded to macOS 10.11 El Capitan. It is hard to tell how much longer the third party web browsers will be updated to run on macOS 10.11.


This laptop can unofficially take 6GB of memory, so if you do upgrade the laptop I would suggest purchasing a single 4GB module which you can install alongside one of the original 1GB modules to give you 5GB of total RAM. Only purchase the memory from Crucial or OWC as Macs can be picky about the memory they use.


An SSD upgrade would also give a bit of a performance boost, but you need to be careful since a lot of SSDs can have compatibility issues with older laptops like this one. The OWC Mercury Electra 3G would be a safe choice. I have used the Crucial MX series in some older Apple laptops, but not in this particular model. Stay away from the Crucial BX series though.


Personally I'm not sure it is really worth the money to upgrade this particular laptop if you will be using macOS because browser support could end at any time. If you were to install Linux (Kubuntu, Ubuntu-Mate, Linux Mint) on it at some point, then it may be worthwhile performing the upgrade since they run Ok for those needs with 4GB of RAM.



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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
55,874 points

Jan 10, 2020 3:50 PM in response to w7lej1

This is a MacBook (early 2009) which can only be upgraded to macOS 10.11 El Capitan. It is hard to tell how much longer the third party web browsers will be updated to run on macOS 10.11.


This laptop can unofficially take 6GB of memory, so if you do upgrade the laptop I would suggest purchasing a single 4GB module which you can install alongside one of the original 1GB modules to give you 5GB of total RAM. Only purchase the memory from Crucial or OWC as Macs can be picky about the memory they use.


An SSD upgrade would also give a bit of a performance boost, but you need to be careful since a lot of SSDs can have compatibility issues with older laptops like this one. The OWC Mercury Electra 3G would be a safe choice. I have used the Crucial MX series in some older Apple laptops, but not in this particular model. Stay away from the Crucial BX series though.


Personally I'm not sure it is really worth the money to upgrade this particular laptop if you will be using macOS because browser support could end at any time. If you were to install Linux (Kubuntu, Ubuntu-Mate, Linux Mint) on it at some point, then it may be worthwhile performing the upgrade since they run Ok for those needs with 4GB of RAM.



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'09 MacBook - upgrade - possible, worthwhile?

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