can i update my black macbook 13' A1181 OS to OS X Lion?

What year is it? What is the processor?

First we need to know which one of the 9 different models of MacBook you have. To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.

If you are at 10.6.8 you can buy Lion for $29 from the App Store if you have at least a model 2,1 MacBook. Lion will require at least 2gb of RAM but really needs 4gb to run smoothly.

As for third party programs see this list for compatibility with 10.7 http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Also Lion doesn't run any Power PC programs. To see if you have any Power PC programs go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up select Applications under Software. Then look under Kind to see if any of your applications are listed as Power PC. Universal and Intel will run under Lion.

Before Mac switched to Intel processors they used Power PC processors from 1994 to 2005. Power PC 601 through 604, G3, G4 and G5. Applications written for the Power PC processors need the application called Rosetta to run on Intel processors. This was part of the Operating System in 10.4 and 10.5 but was an optional install in 10.6. With 10.7 Lion Apple dropped all support for Power PC applications.

You have an early 2008 MacBook. You can upgrade to Lion, though I'd recommend upgrading the RAM. Unfortunately, the early 2008 MacBook cannot upgrade to Mountain Lion, but you can still get Lion.

That's not true stevejobsfan0123. Apple's website clearly states that a 2008/2009 Macbook will be able to upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion; this is one of the reason why I'm so excited about the update.
http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/ <---Step 1

As for being able to update to OS X Lion, even with an uncustomized macbook, it will be able to handle the transition with ease. I updated from Snow Leopard on my Macbook as well, and it's handled like a dream, besides known bugs. I recently upgraded to 4gb ram and it was totally worth it.

Hope this helped you rcarlitos!

Actually, it is true.

http://apple.com/osx/specs/

The OP has an Early 2008 MacBook, not a Late 2008 or later.

I apologize, I did not notice the "Late" 2008.

However, where does rcarlitos say that it is an early 2008? My Macbook has the same specs but is an early 2009 model.

He had earlier posted his serial number which I checked at http://selfsolve.apple.com and told me it was an Early 2008.

The model 4,1 is called an Early 2008 even though it was sold until January 2009. The Early 2009 MacBook is the model 5,2. The main difference between the two is the video card. The model 4,1 has a 144mb Intel GMA X3100 and the model 5,2 has a 256mb GeForce 9400M.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.1-white -13-early-2008-penryn-specs.html

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.0-white -13-early-2009-nvidia-specs.html

No, the processor and the video card are integrated into the logic board. The only way to upgrade the hardware is to sell the MacBook and buy a newer MacBook Pro.

I just upgraded my girlfriends black macbook A1181, 2.4 GHz, 2GB ram to Lion 10.7 because when I tried to install Mountain Lion it gave me an error. I reboot and hold down option key and would see the usb install dmg file and then a gray circle with a line through it would come up and then a few minutes later it would shutdown. I reinstalled Lion dmg file to usb and reboot - held down option key and did a clean install and works fine. However, forums i've read states that they recommend at least 4gb of ram to run smoothly which i would definetly recommend as well but to answer your question: YES, you can upgrade to Lion on A1181 but upgrade the ram. Its actually pretty easy to do, I am going to upgrading her ram soon because the OS does seem to run a bit slower compared to my macbook. If you ever want to do manual upgrades check out ifixit.com. its a great site and really easy to follow instructions and photos with each step. Hope this helped.

Hi, sorry to bring this up again. I'm considering to buy the very same macbook model for iPhone game development purpose. One of my team member does not have Macbook, and we are looking to find one of the cheapest due to budget constraint. Now that i know it cannot upgrade to Mountain Lion, can i get confirmation that this macbook can run the latest XCode version without any issue? The latest XCODE currently is version 4.5.2. Thank you.

The latest XCode you can run on an A1181 running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 is XCode 3.2.6 NOT the newest version.

you are the man! answered everything i needed to know and saved me a trip to the apple store 🙂