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gsingh1015

Q: I have Mac OS X 10.5.8 - how can I upgrade and to what?

I have Mac Book Pro 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with memory of 2GB and 88 MHz DDR 2SDRAM. I cannot run some applications and cannot upgrade others. The message I get is that this version of Mac is no longer supported and that in its current form is vulnerable to virus attack. This computer is 5 years old and I have been extremely happy with it. How can I upgrade and if so to what?

 

I am not tech savvy so please advise. The alternative I suppose is to dish out for a new Mac!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Apr 29, 2014 3:07 AM

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Q: I have Mac OS X 10.5.8 - how can I upgrade and to what?

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  • by lllaass,Helpful

    lllaass lllaass Apr 29, 2014 3:25 AM in response to gsingh1015
    Level 10 (187,981 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 29, 2014 3:25 AM in response to gsingh1015

    Purchase the the OSX 10,6,8 upgrade disk

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

    the update to Snow Leopard. Then go to the Mac App store and update as far as your model Ma Pro allows.

    Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

    You should be able to upgrade to the latest, Mavericks, which is a free update. However, it is marginal with only 2 GB of RAM.

     

    This is the Mac Pro desktop forum. I requested your post be moved to the MacBook Pro laptop forum.

  • by thomas_r.,Helpful

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Apr 29, 2014 3:07 PM in response to gsingh1015
    Level 7 (30,889 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 29, 2014 3:07 PM in response to gsingh1015

    Honestly, unless you upgrade the RAM, you won't want to upgrade that machine beyond Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), and upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard will only increase the chances of getting infected! (Snow Leopard appears to be unsupported at this point, and there's more malware capable of running on Snow Leopard than on Leopard.)

     

    If you upgrade to a minimum of 4 GB of RAM (practically speaking), you could perhaps upgrade all the way to Mavericks. Technically, the minimum requirement is 2 GB of RAM, but unless you never do anything other than e-mail and web browsing, the minimum isn't going to be adequate.

  • by OGELTHORPE,Solvedanswer

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Apr 29, 2014 3:24 PM in response to gsingh1015
    Level 9 (52,101 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 29, 2014 3:24 PM in response to gsingh1015

    As a supplement to what has been said:

     

    Based on the limited information that you provided, you probably have a late 2008 15" MBP.  That unit can accept up to 8 GB RAM, which would be beneficial if you were to install Mavericks in that MBP.

     

    The best sources of reliable Mac RAM are OWC and Crucial.

     

    Ciao.