MBP 5,5 Owner Dilemma

[vascopro]

Hey guys,

I am hoping for some advise as I am in a bit of a predicament.

I currently own a MacBook Pro with following specs:

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Capacity: 240.06 GB (SSD Drive)
System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.8

Over the years I have performed few hardware upgrades to my MBP, like the 8gb RAM and 240GB SSD storage. I am a mid to heavy user and do have multiple browser tabs, adobe photoshop, etc running simultaneously. So when I initially purchased and kept using the MBP with factory hardware, I did experience some performance issues and memory shortage errors.

To be honest, after the hardware upgrades the system has been working perfectly with the above specs on the 10.6.8 OSX, hardly any slow performance issues or memory errors.

Although, the trouble I am experiencing now is that most web browsers and apps like Slack, Discord, etc are not supporting the 10.6.8 OSX. My concern is that if I upgrade to the new OSX, I will end up running into the same torturous slow performance and memory issues again.

QUESTIONS:

1. In your experience, which OSX would be least demanding on my current hardware specs without slowing down performance or running into memory errors? Also taking into account minimum acceptable OSX version in accordance with Chrome, Firefox, Slack and other similar apps.
2. Before upgrading to the new OSX, what steps can I take to make sure I have the option to revert back to my current setup if the new OSX is being a drag on performance. (I do have daily TimeMachine backups on an external server). However, I am not quite sure if Apple has any restrictions in going backwards with OSX like they impose on some iphone models.
3. How reliable are the newer versions of Apple Mail? The Apple Mail in OSX 10.6.8 has been working quite well with the odd bug here and there. I couldn't really complain about it as I have over 30 Email IDs(long story) and it really works well for the most part.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can do anymore hardware upgrades on my existing setup as 8GB RAM is probably the highest it will accept. The storage is not so much of an issue as I have over 60GB free and moreover I store a lot of the large files on my server.

Would like to hear how anyone in a similar position has tackled this problem.

Thanks for any helpful advise you can offer.

 

[Ploki]

If you can spare 50$ get an external SSD (and an ebay 2$ enclosure), make a clone of your drive with disk utility, temporarily replace it (on 2009 it should be quite easy), run it for a few hours see how it fares. if it doesnt work well you can just replace the drives then.

 

[vascopro]

If you can spare 50$ get an external SSD (and an ebay 2$ enclosure), make a clone of your drive with disk utility, temporarily replace it (on 2009 it should be quite easy), run it for a few hours see how it fares. if it doesnt work well you can just replace the drives then.

Thanks Ploki, I had forgotten about the option of cloning the hard drive as opposed to TimeMachine backups. This is a much easier option, like you have suggested. Will test it out and see how I go