Should I install Mavericks on 2008 imac 2,4GHZ with 2GO of RAM? Will it work properly? Slow down or speed up?

Yes, your iMac is included in the specs for Mavericks. But even though 2GB RAM is stated as the minimum, I'd consider the true minimum to be 4GB. If it were me, I'd either upgrade to 4GB (if it's possible on your model) or stay where you are. Also the older graphics card will work against you as Mavs is very graphics intensive.

If you want to try it, I'd install it onto an external drive first and test before committing to it.

ccfrombruxelles wrote:

Will Maverics run properly on an 2008 imac 2,4Ghz with 2go ram?

Your machine can accept 4GB of RAM (2 -2GB modules) or 6GB (1 - 4GB and 1 -2GB) put you'll have to put both in yourself (easy really, there is YouTube videos how) or have a local tech do it.

Utilizes folder > System Profiler > Model Identifier

If iMac 7,1 then

If iMac 8,1 then

Crucial.com is your place to buy tested, quality RAM, I advise it as they make the RAM for Apple and others.

If something else, then download the free Mactracker and look up your model and RAM specs.

You will need at least 4GB to run other software well, 2GB is the bare minimal and not advised for 10.7 and up.

Another thing, your machine is quite dated and if a iMac 7,1 then it's considered vintage, which is nearly done for.

So a iMac 8,1 isn't too far from that same status.

Your no longer covered by AppleCare, if something goes wrong and the upgrade bricks firmware or drivers because of a flaw in the logicboard or video card, it could mean your buying a new machine prematurely as the cost to fix it would be too high for the current value of the machine. If Apple is even fixing those machines at all now.

So your taking your chances. If your happy on Snow Leopard (you should be on 10.6.8) then remain there as it's 25% market share still and getting updates (no version changes though)

OS X 10.4/10.5 need to upgrade, 10.6.8 ok still

Perhaps now is the time to consider getting a new machine with Mavericks 10.9 already installed, then easing into it while using the older machine for PowerPC based software that will not run on 10.7 and up.

Apple provides 90 days of support with a new box, and up to three years with paid AppleCare, that will assist in your "transition" to Mavericks.

I think the dual machine option is your best choice, rather than upgrading a old box and losing your PPC software.

If you don't like the new OS X, you can return the machine also. 😉

Good Luck 🙂

I've recently installed Mavericks on a Early 2008 iMac with 4GB memory and am thoroughly disappointed in almost every regard. I found the reason for the incredibly slowness was that I have 4GB of physical memory installed, but it quickly gets gobbled up. (In Mountain Lion, I didn't have this problem.) Once 3.99GB out of 4GB is used, a swap file begins to take shape and it's all downhill from there. In that state, it's almost impossible to recover unless you close every program you had open. Symptoms include apps taking forever to open, context menus (right-click) and everything system-wide almost grinds to a halt as your hard drive becomes the bottleneck for what would otherwise be no sweat for physical memory.

Absolute disaster. Planning on wiping the system clean and installing Mountain Lion, which will likely be the last version of Mac OS I ever install.

Hi,

I am using the early 2008 MacBook with 4GB and MAVERICKs.

I was facing the similar problem.

With the help from MichealPM on this group, I removed the MacKeeper and since then the 3.99GB out of 4GB has become a boon. I think Maverick uses the memory in advance to allocate it to respective apps so that they respond faster thereby improving overall user experience.

When I upgraded the RAM from 2GB to 4GB, i used the Transcend SO-DIMM but still was having issues.

Later on I realised, Transcend has a different SO-DIMM model for Mac. I replaced it with the correct one and issue was resolved.

Hope this feedback helps !!

Cheers !!

Sudhirr A

I also have an early 2008 iMac. I maxed out its RAM when I first got it.

It has gotten extremely sluggish since I installed Mavericks. We're talking several minutes to log in, with the Spinning Pizza of Death appearing with depressing regularity.

Another example of sluggishness: I opened the Terminal and did

cd Desktop

rm foo.pdf

It took about 30 seconds for the file's icon to leave my Desktop.

Is it time for me to get a new Mac?

PS: Are you the Michael Paul who was at UMBC's Math Dept in the mid-1970s and early 1980s? If so, hi.

If you have commercial antivirus installed, this can create negative performance issues with your Mac.

If you have lots of " garbageware". apps like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac1 or 2, TuneUpMyMac, MacCleanse, etc., these apps pretty much do the opposite of what they claim and can cause all sorts of operational issues and OS slow downs to an otherwise well running Mac.

Google apps like Chrome and Drive cause performance issues.

Update all your web browser Internet plugins and extensions.

If you have banking software installed, like Trusteer Rapport, this software is problematic on recent versions of OS X.

Software that has not been updated to Mavericks compatible versions will cause erratic and slow performance issues.

Same goes for updating drivers and software for any connected, non-Apple hardware devices.