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Anyone update to Yosemite on Late 2008 Aluminum Macbook?
- Thread starter snarestud940
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I did this only because I wanted to learn about it. I have a iPad Air and a Mac Mini (media stuff, iTunes, music, movies, and photos) so my Macbook got used once i a great while. When I did use it, it got slow, errors, and I hated to use it.
I was only running Snow Leopard and never thought I would ever update it because I don't have a need for it. I decided to have some fun with Yosemite and do a fresh install on my Aluminum Macbook so I can learn about it to help others. I am amazed how good it's running. It's not fast, BUT a lot better than it has been for the last year, year and a half. If I put 4 GB of RAM, I bet it would run a lot better.
I am having a lot of fun with this Macbook again, but all I am doing is web browsing.
I was only running Snow Leopard and never thought I would ever update it because I don't have a need for it. I decided to have some fun with Yosemite and do a fresh install on my Aluminum Macbook so I can learn about it to help others. I am amazed how good it's running. It's not fast, BUT a lot better than it has been for the last year, year and a half. If I put 4 GB of RAM, I bet it would run a lot better.
I am having a lot of fun with this Macbook again, but all I am doing is web browsing.
I am currently using a 2008 aluminium MacBook and running Yosemite just fine. I would say the performance is comparable to Mavericks. I can’t say that it’s faster or slower, it’s mostly the same for me.
However, I do need to point out that I’m using the 2.4 version and I switched to an SSD and upgraded my RAM to 8 GB a couple of years ago. That contributes a lot to the performance. In sum, if you’re using Mavericks or any of the later operating systems and you’re satisfied with the performance, then Yosemite will be fine too. If you’re still on Leopard or Snow Leopard however, then I can guarantee that the system will be a lot slower.
However, I do need to point out that I’m using the 2.4 version and I switched to an SSD and upgraded my RAM to 8 GB a couple of years ago. That contributes a lot to the performance. In sum, if you’re using Mavericks or any of the later operating systems and you’re satisfied with the performance, then Yosemite will be fine too. If you’re still on Leopard or Snow Leopard however, then I can guarantee that the system will be a lot slower.
Agreed, I upgraded memory and disk drive to an SSD after lousy performance on Maverick. However, the upgrade to Yosemite has been painless and if anything running better than Mavericks. I am also running the 2.4 Core 2 Duo
Late 2008 macbook Pro
I am running a stock 2.4. I have heard that I can upgrade to 8GB or RAM, but i am hearing mix info that the max was 4.
I vaguely remember that at some point, the OS supported it. But dont quote me on that. Ive upgraded the RAM in Mountain Lion I think, perhaps even earlier. No problems here.
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I'm not doubting you at all, and I wish I did it when RAM was cheaper a few years ago. I upgraded my Mac Mini to 8GB for $45, and now its $45 for 4GB.
I read it was some firmware update or something too. Maybe I'll upgrade this old thing because I don't need a new Macbook since my Mac Mini and iPad does all I need.
Thanks for the info! Nice to see someone who actually did this and no issues at all. What brand did you go with?
I went with these after reading several reviews across the web. They weren’t the cheapest available, but I don’t think I found a negative review about those. I upgraded while using Lion, not Mountain Lion. So it must have been a change brought in Lion at the time that triggered my purchase (I knew that 4 GB was the maximum before).
I cannot really say. I bought my MacBook with 4 GB of RAM already and I thought it had become too slow with Lion (e.g. big apps taking forever to launch, slow multitasking and app-switching, etc.). It might be that Mavericks and Yosemite are less resource-intensive in that respect or that your needs aren’t the same as mine, so 4 GB might suffice.
Which OS are you currently running?
Updated on 2GHz macbook aluminum late 2008 with 8GB ram and terabyte hard drive (7200 rpm).
Performance was unbearably laggy, especially in mail app would lurch from email to email. Without doing much, noticed swap would be up to 10GB easily.
After two days, went back to Mavericks, silky smooth, way better than mountain lion or yosemite. Swap in Mavericks is at zero unless doing intensive processes.
Honestly, Yosemite seemed ugly to me, I wanted to change the font, the dock, and especially the silly finder icon with the plastic looking smiles. I liked the way messages popped up and I liked the weather icon showing up in notifications.
I don't know how i would feel about the macbook ringing with phone calls. I get pocket dialed sometimes and its bad enough when FaceTime rings the phone, the iPad and the macbook rings too on delayed lag--if that happened with regular calls, it might be too much.
Some of the reviews note the UI inconsistency and suggest the later revisions to Yosemite might improve. I see how Apple is slowly inching the OSX to be more visually like the miles more popular iPhone OS and more interactive with their mobile ecosystem without giving the mac user too much culture shock. Still I'm hoping they dial the visuals back in the next round while bringing over some of the Mavericks brilliant use of RAM.
ps Also I'm tired of the tracking. I saw that I could disable in spotlight some of the info being sent to Bing and Apple. Still its tiresome always being on the defensive. Separately hearing that the mobile carriers are tracking us like crazy is another blow--I hope they get challenged to the hilt. Its enough already.
Performance was unbearably laggy, especially in mail app would lurch from email to email. Without doing much, noticed swap would be up to 10GB easily.
After two days, went back to Mavericks, silky smooth, way better than mountain lion or yosemite. Swap in Mavericks is at zero unless doing intensive processes.
Honestly, Yosemite seemed ugly to me, I wanted to change the font, the dock, and especially the silly finder icon with the plastic looking smiles. I liked the way messages popped up and I liked the weather icon showing up in notifications.
I don't know how i would feel about the macbook ringing with phone calls. I get pocket dialed sometimes and its bad enough when FaceTime rings the phone, the iPad and the macbook rings too on delayed lag--if that happened with regular calls, it might be too much.
Some of the reviews note the UI inconsistency and suggest the later revisions to Yosemite might improve. I see how Apple is slowly inching the OSX to be more visually like the miles more popular iPhone OS and more interactive with their mobile ecosystem without giving the mac user too much culture shock. Still I'm hoping they dial the visuals back in the next round while bringing over some of the Mavericks brilliant use of RAM.
ps Also I'm tired of the tracking. I saw that I could disable in spotlight some of the info being sent to Bing and Apple. Still its tiresome always being on the defensive. Separately hearing that the mobile carriers are tracking us like crazy is another blow--I hope they get challenged to the hilt. Its enough already.