semi-noob needs help: macbook RAM/storage upgrade advice

***I apologize in advance for my ignorance in this subject area!***

Here goes:
I have a MacBook 7,1 (MC516LL/A) with all original, factory components, and since I've upgraded to OS X 10.7.5, it's been running incredibly S...L...O...W... which is incredibly annoying to me

Out of the 250GB's of HD storage, I have about 91 free. From my previous experience with mac notebooks, I know that I am going to need to get some more hard drive space, soon (my last iBook turned to complete crap, once I got down to 20 gigs of available memory).

I see that I can upgrade the RAM from two, 1GB sticks to two, 4GB sticks. From the limited research I've done, I'm under the impression that only the boot-up speed will increase slightly (please correct me if any of this is wrong).

I've also been reading about Solid State Drives, found some reasonably priced ones on crucial.com, and they look/sound AWESOME! Aaaaaand the reality is that I really have no idea what I truly need. I'm a single mom and a college student, so I'm looking for an upgrade option in the $200-300 range, *and* I'm not into graphic design, web design, or anything that requires top of the line equipment.

My macbook is practically glued to my hands 24/7, so I just want it to run FASTER, and I need more storage. I don't know if this info is pertinent or helps, but outside of studying (all done with ebooks and online websites), I like to download a lot of music, watch videos, upload family pictures, browse the interwebz, etc., etc.

What can I do to improve speed and expand storage capacity?

Any help is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

Heather

Welcome to the forum.

So. The first thing I'd do is download and run automated scripts in Onyx.
Titanium's Software • Download
Make sure you get the one for Lion. This will make sure you're running in best shape you can with current resources.

Once done I'd consider jumping to 4gb RAM and getting a new hard disk. Perhaps a 500gb, maybe larger depending on use.
I'd skip SSD at this stage as anything above the 250GB you have now is going to be cost prohibitive.

The RAM upgrade is straightforward. There are several guides online, same for the physical hard disk swap.

I'd suggest getting SuperDuper and a sata to usb enclosure for the hard disk.

You put the new hard disk in the enclosure and use superduper to clone your existing disk on the new drive. Then swap the disks putting the new one in your Mac and existing one in the enclosure.

Boot your Mac and once your happy everything running OK you can format the old drive and use it as a backup drive etc.

My choice was OWC. I already had the 8GB memory but they are a great source for that as well. I purchased a 512GB Toshiba SSD from them ($297) and an external case ($26) in which I cloned it then later put the old 500 GB HDD in as an external. I used Carbon Copy Cloner.

Extremely pleased with the 3X speed increase and with OWC as a source.

Hey guys... I ended up using OWC to upgrade my RAM to 8 gigs. I created a "reaction" story, if you will... it is slightly nsfw, so beware. Though, I'm sure you guys know *exactly* how I'm feeling right now! SO EXCITED!

Thank you all for the tips!

here is the link...

m'lady boner is so hard right now - Imgur