iMac 24" Early 2009. 4GB RAM to 8GB upgrade?

Upgrading to run El Cap is an excellent idea. Buy quality ram at Crucial http://www.crucial.com/ or OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/

Shipping may make direct purchase from OWC too expensive but you can find their ram on Amazon.

hesslemount wrote:

So I have purchased from crucial

Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 SODIMM Memory for Mac

Crucial BX200 240GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD

I ensured that these are compatible (the 9.5mm adapter worried me). So if you think this move is savvy? I will proceed to call PC World or a good computer technician to install both pieces of new hardware. Am I correct in assuming the SSD can run alongside the hard drive?

Thanks for your great help Mike Sombre; being a tree surgeon technology isn't my strong point.

Richard

Good choices from Crucial. I'm not sure what you mean in your statement above that I've bolded. If you intend to leave the hard drive in place for storage you'll have to remove the optical drive. The computer only has two SATA connections. Make sure the technician you take is to is a Mac tech, PC techs generally don't do well working on Macs. You can find Apple Authorized Service Providers by starting here https://locate.apple.com/country

I've installed SSD's in my iMac and my Macbook. Both are the single best computer upgrade I've ever done, both feel like brand new machines. Both ram vendors listed above will also offer SSD upgrades for your Mac. Use the guides at https://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel_24%22_EMC_2267 for step by step instructions. I replaced the optical drive in my iMac and left the hard drive in place for storage.