2008 Macbook Pro, 2gb Ram 160 Hd

[rizjones]

I have found what I think is a good deal on this computer and was thinking of getting it for a friend for Xmas. I just purchased my first macbook for myself this year so Im not very familiar with the older models and how well they have held up. I want to know what people think of this model and if it is still a solid computer for basic computer use in 2016 ie web browsing, Streaming, Word editing.

Any help would be greatly appreciate.

 

[DeltaMac]

There's some information that you did not provide
No 2008 MBPro came with 160GB hard drive originally, so I might have doubts that is even a 2008 model. Could be a 2007, which DID come with that 160GB.
An older 2008 would have a 1.5Gbps SATA bus (relatively slow, if you want to upgrade to an SSD), where the later 2008 15-inch MBPro had a 3.0 Gbps SATA, so much faster for an SSD.
The earlier 2008 would also be limited to 6GB RAM, the late 2008 can be upgraded to 8GB.
All that means the particular 2008 model makes a difference in potential use.
So, Early 2008, Late 2008, 15-inch or 17-inch (or not a 2008 model, but maybe new in 2008, but 2007 model year - it all makes a difference.
None of those models would be a simple upgrade to the current Sierra system. They will be limited to El Capitan (OS X 10.11.6)

 

[thesaint024]

This depends on the price and what you're willing to trade off. Personally I think it's too much of a trade. 160gb is fine for what you mentioned but it pretty much limits you to that. Music or photos stored local will run out fast. Also 2gb of ram is the bare minimum to run OS. The drawback with that little memory is it's SLOW. It slows to a crawl booting up and having more that a couple browser tabs open. You should factor into the price a ram and hdd (maybe) upgrade which is easy but may cost as much as the laptop itself. I'm guessing the "deal" is $100-$200? I guess it's usable as is as a dedicated single tab web browser but I wouldn't do much more than that on it. My opinion only. I have a 09 with 8gb and 750 hdd. It is slooow. YMMV.

 

[linguist]

back when I got my 2009 macbook white core 2 duo, i immediately upgraded to 4 GB Ram (2 x 2GB ram)
to get 6 GB ram u would need 2GB + 4GB ddr-2 sodimm, the latter that's hard to get and expensive and might not even work reliably.

the hard drive life is questionable not to mention 160gb is middling size. (mine was 120gb and never enough space)
speed is really low compared to current i5 i7 processor (300% slower)
as heavy as 15" macbook pro
battery life is questionable as well ( I got mine replaced )

4GB ram and SSD upgrade I had ( limited to sata2 speed ) make it workable, but really slow compared to 2014 macbook air 4GB ram ( much faster SSD and CPU makes up for 4GB ram ).

2GB I wouldn't even bother getting it for nowadays, web browsing nowadays are resource & ram heavy. the upgrades you gonna do to make it up to speed gonna be too expensive (ram + ssd)

secondhand 2013 macbook air 11" 4GB is way faster, very usable even for nowadays standard, can be had for similar price, and can use latest macOS.