Late 2008 Unibody Macbook--SSD?

MY Samsung 840:

SR: 207

SW: 167

RR: 5745

RW: 16587

with sataII connection.

Data are on my Bootcamp partition but I get a message when doing the test that the partition is to small (size = 60GB) but boottime is approx. 30 sec. on Window7 and also the same on OsX.

cool dude! i am surprised you went ahead and tried upgrading RAM to 8GB even though specs said max supported RAM is 4GB. I was holding off from upgrade because of this stupid support page even though i had enough 4GB modules at my disposal. thanks to you. will update and let you guys know my experience.

And your idea of removing dvd drive and replacing with hdd is nice. now i got a crazy idea of connecting it with a sata to esata connector so that you can connect external drives, etc. lol

I have installed Samsung EVO 840 series 250GB SSD and my late 2008 unibody macbook rocks now! Running mavericks and is fluid and flawless. I have used some suggestions from internet to enable TRIM support. Other than that no config tweaks.

BTW i also installed bootcamp with windows 8.1 both OS runs pretty fast.

I recently encountered a complete hard drive failure on my Late 2008 Macbook - Aluminium body. I'm back up and running after an Apple Store visit, but with the lag I already encounter, I want to just get a new hard drive.I've been researching installing a SSD. I'm reading good things, including here, about the Samsung. However, I read elsewhere that any Macbook older than 2011 has SATA II connector. And, the Samsung everyone is mentioning is listed as SATA III. Does that not matter? Is there an adapter? Am I missing something?

Mentions connectors: http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing-components/storage/best-mac-ssd-6-sol id-state-drives-reviewed-and-rated-1168844/1#articleContent

Also, the specs on my Macbook state that it supports up to 4gb of memory. Right now, I have 4gb of memory, 2gb per slot. Am I able to update the memory with 2 - 4gb cards, making it 8gb total? Does it mean 4gb of memory per slot?

Attempting to do this swap on my own, as a novice. I was able to add memory to my 2001 iBook back in the day, and hoping this hard drive swap-out won't be much more difficult.

Any instructions on making the switch once I settle on a drive would be greatly appreciated. I have searched for a step-by-step, but so far only found instructions for adding memory.

Thanks.

MakeLifeInteresting;

I am about to replace my 2.5 SATAII HDD Drive with an SSD Drive, only difference is that I have a Macbook Pro Late 2008 Unibody.

Have a read around about compatibility there's a Wiki here it started a ling while ago but some good info.

The way I see it is that the 2008 Mackbook and Pro are SATA II whilst you can fit a SATA III SSD Drive you will be restricted to SATA II speeds, still an improvement though.

I am just researching which brands and makes?

Make sure that you get an SSD Drive that is either as big or bigger than your existing HDD if you want the same or more storage space.

On memory, the Macbook Pro was restricted to 4GB but I found that there was a simple upgrade to allow the Macbook to see more that 4GB (8GB in my case) once you upgraded the OS to Mountain Lion I think. I upgraded to Mountain Lion to get App store access then downloaded and install Mavericks as it was free. My Macbook Pro is running fine, although I do experience the odd Beachball when it first boots up, but hopefully that will be solved with the new SSD Drive.

Well I'm running Mavericks on my early 2011 MB Pro. I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB from 4 GB and put in a SSD from OWC (I usually only deal with them since they're so good about returns):

"Item Number: OWC1333DDR38S08

Description: 8.0GB (2x4.0GB Kit) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SO-DIMM 204 Pin CL9 SO-DIMM Memory Upgrade Kit for 2011 MacBook Pro models, Mid 2010/2011 21.5" & 27" iMac (except 3.2GHz i3 Model), Mid 2011 Mac mini models. Lifetime Warranty.

Price: $99.97

Qty: 1

Item Number: OWCSSD7E6G120

Description: 120GB Mercury Electra 6G SSD 2.5" Serial-ATA 7mm 6Gb/s Solid State Drive. Tier 1 NAND Flash storage with 7% Over Provisioned Redundancy. Mac and PC compatible. Built in the USA. Includes 7mm to 9.5mm spacer. 3 Year OWC Limited Warranty.

Price: $79.99:

Performance is notably faster browsing is very pleasant and especially opening Photoshop CS6 it's open in about 3 seconds. Browsers are also as quick to open.

I typically have 4 desktops open so I can gesture between different browsers and a desktop;

The Geekbench Browser performance stats:

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011)

Sincle -Core Score Multi-Core Score

2320 4602

I'M BAACK!

Hi,

I can confirm that the 13'' Macbook (late 2008, unibody) fully supports 8GB of RAM. I have it installed on mine and it runs like a breeze.

Now, I'm also in search for an SSD upgrade.

So, do you guys recommend the Samsung EVO ones? Any special trick or configuration I need to do, or is it just, buy the SSD, replace the current HDD with the newly bought SSD and all done?

Thanks,

Filipe

I'd recommend going with OWC. The replacement went exactly as you describe:

" buy the SSD, replace the current HDD with the newly bought SSD and all done?"

If you Google Mac and Samsung EVO you'll see it's doable but a bit of a pain.

buy Intel SSD is better and good because our macbook is use intel technology...
you also can remove optical drive and fix 2nd harddisk.

Hi all! I did this upgrade in my late 2008 macbook aluminum and i can tell you the ssd upgrade is really worth it. Im using 512 GB Crucial m40 since 2012 and haven't had any problems. I also upgraded ram to a total of 8GB. I got Crucial ram from Amazon. No performance problems with any of those. I even recently put Yosemite on it, an it doesn't slow down. Instead, the computer loads up fast!! It opens anything just a second after the click. Its unbelievable fast! Faster indeed than my sister's 2012 imac (non ssd). I believe i just gave my computer 3 or 4 more years of life, and yet i can use the hard drive in my next computer once my macbook dies. Not bad. I have only one complaint. The standby time dropped to only two days, but i can use the laptop for almost 3 hours with full battery charge (on light work, of course) Have anybody else had this same experience? How can i expand the standby time with closed lid?

I have an early 2009 macbook with 4gb of ram in which I've put a Samsung 840 (pre Evo) SSD and booting and read/write and opening applications it literally runs circles around my late 2009 quad core imac with a 1tb hard drive. The SSD is the single best upgrade I've ever done, and I've done plenty.

I'll offer you some advice that I've learned from investigating an SSD for my imac. Check System Profiler to see which SATA controller your macbook has, if it has the NVidia MCP79 controller avoid SATA3 SSD's that have sandforce controllers, they will only operate at SATA1 speed due to hardware limitations. Samsung doesn't use sandforce.

Whichever SSD you decide on get Trim Enabler, Google it for a link. If you install an SSD DO NOT upgrade to Yosemite. Beginning with Yosemite Apple requires system extensions, kexts, to be approved and signed by Apple, Trim Enabler is a kext that Apple has not approved. If you enable Trim in Yosemite your mac will not start, if you run without Trim your SSD will not last. From what I've found Yosemite effecitvly eliminates the use of non Apple SSd's in older macs.

Trim Enabler is a kext that Apple has not approved. If you enable Trim in Yosemite your mac will not start..

You can use Trim Enabler in Yosemite, but you have to allow Trim to disable the kext signing security setting. Trim does it for you. When you flip the Trim switch to On, you will be told what Trim can do and how to proceed. You have to make a choice in Yosemite between enabling Trim or enabling kext signing security.

Here is the main thing to remember with SSD's for the Late October Macbook Pro 5,1. You cannot use a 6Gb. You have to order the 3 Gb. If you order the SSD 6Gb then on this MODEL of MBP 2008 Late will run poorly and slower. It will slow down your system. THE ONLY SSD you can put in that mac book pro is the Mercury 3Gb 7mm 2.5" Sata

Eustace Mendis wrote:

Trim Enabler is a kext that Apple has not approved. If you enable Trim in Yosemite your mac will not start..

You can use Trim Enabler in Yosemite, but you have to allow Trim to disable the kext signing security setting. Trim does it for you. When you flip the Trim switch to On, you will be told what Trim can do and how to proceed. You have to make a choice in Yosemite between enabling Trim or enabling kext signing security.

Yes it will, but that disables ALL kext security signing and that is a huge security risk. Also in the course of troubleshooting if you reset the PRAM the setting is reversed and you won't be able to start your mac. I agree there is a choice to make but running without either Trim or kext signing isn't a risk that I'd be willing to take. I simply wanted those interested in upgrading to SSD that there may be issues.

You are absolutely right, it's a choice.

To their credit Cindori explicitly warns of the risk:

http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/