Early 2008 MacBook SSD and RAM Upgrade Compatability

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Early 2008 MacBook SSD and RAM Upgrade Compatability

I have an early 2008 macbook running OS X 10.5.8. It has a 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2, and a 120GB 5400 RPM drive. It’s model MacBook 4,1. Obviously, it could use some upgrades. It still works fine, but is just slow. I can’t afford a new one, and think I can still get some life out of this one. I am thinking about the following upgrades:

Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147247

OWC 4GB (2x2) Memory Upgrade - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/5300DDR2S4GP/

Transcend USB 2.0 Enclosure for the old hard drive currently in it - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817349001

I also plan on putting OS X 10.7 (lion) on the new SSD, unless anybody thinks keeping it at Leopard or Snow Leopard would be a better choice, performance wise.

Does anybody see any compatibility issue with any of these upgrades, or have any suggestions as to better upgrades? I realize the MacBook can only support SATA I, so it won’t get the full SATA III benefit of the SSD, but it should still be a huge performance upgrade. Thank you for any help!

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 6:15 PM

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Answer 1

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Ralph Landry1

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Jan 29, 2014 6:19 PM in response to Rangerbob86

You will see a good performance increase with that ram as the software will not have to use virtual memory as much. And especially Lion will benefit as it uses most of the 2 GB min ram.

The SSD will certainly speed loading software and data reads/writes.

Looks like some good additions.

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Answer 2

Rangerbob86 Author

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Jan 29, 2014 6:22 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

Thank you!

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Answer 3

Jan 29, 2014 6:24 PM in response to Rangerbob86

You are welcome, good luck and be sure to take your time doing this work.

Check the OWC, http://www.macsales.com web site as they have a lot of on-line videos on how to do these installations.

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Answer 4

Jingboi

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Feb 14, 2014 8:11 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

have you completed the upgrade yet? I also wanted to know. Someone is trying to trade me their 2008 MB Pro as well (for my Canon L lens), I think it's the 4GB already one and I also have a crucial SSD from my Dell that I can put in. I need to have the MB to run smoothly on PS CS6 & LR5 Please let us know what the results are. What do you guys thinkg? is it enough to run those smoothly?

Thank you

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