New MacBook Pro User OS X Questions

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DanielScott


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Hello All,

I just recently acquired a 2008 MacBook Pro (Unibody, Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz, 4 gigs of RAM). I am mainly going to use it for music production (the specs will suit me just fine). My question is regarding OS X. I just did a full wipe and re-install of Snow Leopard. Is it worth upgrading to Lion? I have read all kinds of differing opinions of Lion on older machines, as well as using Logic Pro in conjunction with Lion. Just wondering if anyone around here is in a similar position and what your thoughts are. Thanks in advance...
 
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chscag

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As you've found out, opinions will vary on whether or not to upgrade. I'm running Lion on a 2008 MacBook C2D 2.4GHz, 4 GB without difficulty. However, I'm not running anything on that machine which requires a lot of horse power. I use my 2011 iMac for that....

The thing to keep in mind is that Lion will not run anything that relies on PPC code. Rosetta is no longer included. You can probably get along just fine with Snow Leopard but I see no problem upgrading to Lion if you were to do so.
 
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DanielScott


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chscag said:
As you've found out, opinions will vary on whether or not to upgrade. I'm running Lion on a 2008 MacBook C2D 2.4GHz, 4 GB without difficulty. However, I'm not running anything on that machine which requires a lot of horse power. I use my 2011 iMac for that....

The thing to keep in mind is that Lion will not run anything that relies on PPC code. Rosetta is no longer included. You can probably get along just fine with Snow Leopard but I see no problem upgrading to Lion if you were to do so.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Basically, I just want to use the least resource intensive version of OS X. There is so much info out there, some claim that Lion is dumbed down and more akin to iOS and uses less RAM, and then there are arguments to the complete opposite side. It's like trying to pick out the perfect Linux distro...
 
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chas_m

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As far as I can tell, Lion uses WAY LESS resources than Snow Leopard, having been further tuned specifically for Intel processors. The size is a good hint: Lion is so small an OS that it can fit in under 5GB of space, under 4GB if you strip out the excess languages.

That said, Lion is much more 64-bit oriented than even Snow Leopard was, so it works best with lots of RAM. Having said THAT, I'm running it on an older machine than the one you have with great satisfaction on only 3GB of RAM (the most this machine can use). I'm sure it would look pokey compared to a new machine, but each iteration of OS X has made my machine so much faster than it was previously that I'm now long overdue for a newer one!
 
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DanielScott


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chas_m said:
As far as I can tell, Lion uses WAY LESS resources than Snow Leopard, having been further tuned specifically for Intel processors. The size is a good hint: Lion is so small an OS that it can fit in under 5GB of space, under 4GB if you strip out the excess languages.

That said, Lion is much more 64-bit oriented than even Snow Leopard was, so it works best with lots of RAM. Having said THAT, I'm running it on an older machine than the one you have with great satisfaction on only 3GB of RAM (the most this machine can use). I'm sure it would look pokey compared to a new machine, but each iteration of OS X has made my machine so much faster than it was previously that I'm now long overdue for a newer one!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. If you wouldn't mind, I do have a RAM question. Officially, my Macbook Pro supports up to 4 gigs of 1067 MHz DDR3 memory. Then I came across this: "Secret" Firmware lets Late '08 MacBooks use 8GB. | Other World Computing Blog

My machine and EFI firmware are what is mentioned in this article. Is this feasible? I am kind of a newb when it comes to hardware components...
 
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My machine and EFI firmware are what is mentioned in this article. Is this feasible? I am kind of a newb when it comes to hardware components...
Click to expand...

Yes, if your machine matches the specs as given by OWC you can upgrade to 8GB of system memory. Keep in mind that means removing the current modules and replacing them with 2 x 4 GB modules. Right now memory is inexpensive which makes the decision easier. :)
 
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DanielScott


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chscag said:
Yes, if your machine matches the specs as given by OWC you can upgrade to 8GB of system memory. Keep in mind that means removing the current modules and replacing them with 2 x 4 GB modules. Right now memory is inexpensive which makes the decision easier. :)
Click to expand...

But the bullet and did the 8gb upgrade. I could immediately tell the difference, especially being able to run Logic in 64 bit. Cheers!
 

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