Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is adding ram worth it?
- Thread starter Julius_IV
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have the 13" 2009 mbp. When I first got it I added 8GB of ram and have never had a problem with it running slow. Later I removed the dvd drive and added an SSD to make a fusion drive. While it is slower than a new machine it is still plenty fast enough for what I do and should last me a number of years yet. With only 2GB of ram I could see why it could be slow. My answer is yes you should upgrade to 8GB.
I have the early 2009 MacBookPro5,2 with 8 GB memory. I wish it could take more.
What speed is the hard disk drive?
What speed is the hard disk drive?
Definitely do both SSD and 8 GB RAM.
Just get something cheap for such an old machine.
Just get something cheap for such an old machine.
It is the stock HDD im not sure what the speed is but its slow.
[doublepost=1465076803][/doublepost]
Ok ill probably do that! Im just afraid that the CPU will hold me back. Is the CPU a problem?
JTTOFT is correct. SSD and more memory. Replacing the boot/OS SSD will probably make more of a difference than memory, but 2 GB is very constraining with the size of modern apps.
FWIW my 2011 13 MBP has a 480 GB SSD and 16 GB of memory. It boots in 10 seconds, and most apps are up in 2-3 seconds.
FWIW my 2011 13 MBP has a 480 GB SSD and 16 GB of memory. It boots in 10 seconds, and most apps are up in 2-3 seconds.
- It's slow for sure. But the SSD will still help enormously.
Adding RAM might not make it faster, RAM is like workspace, the more you have the more you can do at once without it getting bogged down.
Switching from a HDD to an SSD or Flash storage will increase performance - in that your machine will boot quicker, apps will load quicker and everything will seem speedier. An SSD won't increase processing power though so encoding, converting or compiling will still take just as long.
Switching from a HDD to an SSD or Flash storage will increase performance - in that your machine will boot quicker, apps will load quicker and everything will seem speedier. An SSD won't increase processing power though so encoding, converting or compiling will still take just as long.
That really depends on what you actually do on a computer. For most casual users, the answer to that question's no.
I think you need understand what each component does:
RAM: Multi-tasking. E.G. opening tabs, opening many apps at the same time
HDD/SSD: Storage. E.G. Reading/writing things in the storage. Turing on your machine, opening apps, and read/writing things will greatly increase with SSD
CPU: Computing power. Apps that requires lots of computing power with benefit a better CPU. E.G. a math genius will take less time than a normal person to calculate a difficult math problem.
If you are opening a lot of apps and tabs in browser then you will need more RAM. If your computer is slow because of CPU then there is nothing you can do. If your computer is slow because it's taking forever to open anything then a SSD will improve it.
Have a macmini, same generation and with ssd and 8gb, it runs fine
Fair few late 08 macbook people have done the same, 8GB RAM, SSD and disk doubler to increase space and its fantastic.
Just upgraded to 10.11.4 a few weeks ago form 10.9 and it flies. Final cut X & lightroom run extremely well minus the exporting that takes time but thats expected on Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
Just upgraded to 10.11.4 a few weeks ago form 10.9 and it flies. Final cut X & lightroom run extremely well minus the exporting that takes time but thats expected on Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
Thanks everybody for the answers! Is just bought 8GB Ram and an SSD from Crucial!
Good advice offered and wise decision taken.
I found the additional RAM most useful when using apps like PhotoShop, and when running Parallels.
The SSD is well worth the upgrade but you don't enjoy the full speed capability of the SSD with the 2009 MBP not being SATA3.
I found the additional RAM most useful when using apps like PhotoShop, and when running Parallels.
The SSD is well worth the upgrade but you don't enjoy the full speed capability of the SSD with the 2009 MBP not being SATA3.