Should I upgrade OSX 10.5 on my Aluminum Macbook 2008?

[cyberknight]

I am still a happy user of my Aluminum MacBook 2008 (non-pro) and it is running OSX 10.5, Leopard. The CPU is Intel Core 2 Duo.

I ran "uname -a" in the terminal and determined that I am running a 32-bit version based on this:

Darwin Kernel Version 9.8.0: Wed Jul 15 16:55:01 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1228.15.4~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

If I upgrade to 10.6, Snow Leopard (or any other newer OS) will it convert to the 64-bit version?

Do you guys think it is worth it to upgrade to Snow Leopard? Should I consider Mountain Lion as well? Is there an economical way to do all the upgrades?

 

[Orange Furball]

I think it'll switch to 64bit automatically.

I had the same macbook and it ran Mountain Lion perfectly.

The cheapest way to upgrade is to use another Mac with at least 10.6.6 on it and download mountain lion. Then create a bootable flash drive and do a clean install on your system. Or you can buy a Snow Leopard DVD and install that over leopard then get the Mountain Lion app from the Mac app store and install it. Do not pirate anything!

 

[dcorban]

I had this same MacBook. It runs the 64-bit version by default in Lion and Mountain Lion. Snow Leopard is still 32-bit, but runs 64-bit apps.

I can't believe you are still on Leopard. The trackpad is just begging for multi-touch gestures. Snow Leopard should have been an instant upgrade. I personally did Lion on day one, but I can see why some people may want to hold off. However, Mountain Lion is also an easy choice, especially if you use iCloud with your iPad or iPhone.

 

[happyslayer]

I just did this for a customer on 2008 Aluminum MacBook. You can only go to Lion (10.7), though. Mountain Lion requires a newer CPU with true 64-bit support.

(Edit: I just noted the above posts saying Mountain Lion will work. Interesting! I asked Apple Support Online and they said 'no' for the above reason. Anyway, if it does, do that as a final step


Update the RAM to 4GB if you haven't already - only $30.00 from Crucial.com or Fry's Electronics. This isn't required, but it will definitely help with Lion. (Edit: and Mountain Lion)

Install Snow Leopard - 10.6 You will need a DVD

install Lion - 10.7 --can be downloaded still - do a google search to find it, or maybe you can still find the USB install drive online somewhere.

It worked great, felt very snappy and allowed access to the Mac App Store.

As a final step for the customer, I did a Time Machine Backup to an external USB drive, installed a new 120GB SSD drive (got a Fry's deal for $105.00 Corsair Force Series) and restored. Now it feels VERY snappy, almost like a new computer. The customer was very happy and total cost in hardware was less than $200.00 with tax and shipping. A lot cheaper than a new MacBook pro if you have access to the install media.

Good luck!

 

[50548]

At the very least, upgrade to Snow Leopard - in your model, I don't know how well Lion or ML would run.

 

[Paradoxally]

Upgrade to 10.6.8, there's no point using 10.7 or 10.8 if not for the 'features' (more like annoyances on Lion). ML is worth it, but I'm not sure how it would run on that hardware.

 

[yellowbunny]

I used one of these for a week on 10.8 and it worked great. I would definitly upgrade if I was you. Buy more ram though.