Can i buy an 09 mac and have it be as fast as a new one?

Since MacBooks are no longer sold, you have nothing new to compare against in the MacBook line. Of course you can purchase a used MacBook, max out the memory and install an SSD into it, and have a very functional system.

You made the statement that you wanted to buy a used system and to update everything. From a hardware standpoint, there are two things you can upgrade, memory and the hard drive. If speed is your ultimate goal, then replacing the hard drive with an SSD (solid state drive) will increase the speed of disk operations significantly. There are many speed comparisons on the web, if you want to see if it's worthwhile.

While you can buy them from a number of sources, I would suggest OWC (http://www.macsales.com) as they provide installation support for their good line of SSD models. Another source is newegg.com, which has good prices and lots of user comments. Once you decide which to get, check Amazon also.

nickatchison wrote:

macbook can I buy a used one and update everything so its as good as a new one?

Nothing you can do to that machine will ever make it "as good as a new one". As mentioned, there are no Macbooks anymore, and any of the MacBook Pros will be noticeably faster and more capable.

That does not mean that it would not be a perfectly useable machine, but expecting to have a 2 or 3 year old machine keep pace with the newest available is a wholly unrealistic expectation. The cpu, logicboard, RAM & bus, and video system of that machine cannot be upgraded, and they cannot possible match current machine's performance.

speed? probably most any computer made in the last 5 years will be fast enough for most people. not all but most. in my opinion a 2009 macbook is the ultimate when it comes to mixing old technology with new. in 10.6 you can use your old power pc programs and have a superdrive and firewire 400. it will also run 10.8 if you want to use icloud. and this style laptop is the easiest to upgrade and repair since the pismo. just my opinion.

EDIT: i am referring to the 2.13ghz 2009 model.

Speed doing what? Unless I missed it you didn't mention what you need this speed for. Knowing that might help get more concise answers.

I'll second your oversight which is lucid and realistic. One can also clone (bootable) the 10.6 internal HDD to an external HDD and then upgrade either to 10.8 and have a dual boot system.

It will be so FAST you won't notice a difference. I asked what you were doing that you needed the speed for, browsing the Internet and playing iTunes are not very intensive tasks. Keep your system up to date and don't install a bunch of crap to do things that OS X already does and you'll be fine. Stay away from a utility called MacKeeper and be careful about installing anti virus stuff too.

And don't be so snippy. We're trying to help and you didn't give us enough information.

A 2010 MacBook Pro is well worth $500

It would have saved all of us a lot of wasted time if you had stated in your original post that the machine in question was in fact a MacBook Pro and not a MacBook. I have a 2010 MacBook Pro which is a very capable machine for you wish to do. It is reliable and will be useful for a number of years. I would consider $500 a bargain for a good example.

None for a Mac. If you eventully use Windows via emulator or Boot Camp then you have the included Windows anti virus program.