upgrading an early 2008 mac book?

dillinjl · Feb 16, 2013

I have an early 2008 macbook with 160 gb hard drive, 2 gb ram, 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo, running osx 10.5.8

I've had it five years now and it still runs pretty well. I have experienced a few issues lately:

1. When I start it up sometimes it will display a gray screen with a flashing folder in the middle and it won't go beyond this point. I try to restart it repeatedly but get the same screen. after leaving it unplugged for a day or so and trying it again it will start up as normal.

2. my operating system is so old I can't enjoy the new features of OSX (no app store, no updates for certain programs). my preferred browser (chrome) will no longer update and I am unable to load videos or flash websites.

3. things are just running a little bit slow.

I am considering 2 options for myself:

1. updating to the latest OSX and upgrading to 4 gb of memory

2. buying a new cheaper, non mac, laptop (spending about $500)

so I ask: is it worth updating this old mac that still works pretty well, or would I be better off with a new laptop that is cheaper? obviously buying a brand new mac would be the best choice, but I don't feel like spending $1000 on a laptop again. I figure I could update this one for about $100, but if I did that I would want to get at least 2 more years out of it. Am I dreaming? my fear is that I will update it and 2 months later something big will go wrong (screen will go out, or hard drive, ect.) and I'll just need to buy a new laptop anyway. After all, this laptop is 5 years old and has been used heavily that whole time. Honestly, I'm amazed it's still running, and I'm wondering how far I can push my luck. What do you think?

Thanks,
Josh

louishen · Feb 16, 2013

The RAM upgrade will not cost much, as for the OS upgrade, that's cheap as well, but you will need to find a friend running a mac with at least 10.6 Snow Leopard to download Mountain Lion

See our handy guide to create a bootable USB upgrade disk if you use someone else's Mac to buy and download Mountain Lion OS X Mountain Lion: The Mac-Forums Guide | Mac-Forums BlogMac-Forums Blog

You could also do with running some maintenance tasks on the Mac like running a permissions repair with Disk Utility

I have a 2008 MacBook, and its still running just fine so no pressing need for a new machine

cherry_bomb · Feb 19, 2013

dillinjl said:
I have an early 2008 macbook with 160 gb hard drive, 2 gb ram, 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo, running osx 10.5.8

I've had it five years now and it still runs pretty well. I have experienced a few issues lately:

1. When I start it up sometimes it will display a gray screen with a flashing folder in the middle and it won't go beyond this point. I try to restart it repeatedly but get the same screen. after leaving it unplugged for a day or so and trying it again it will start up as normal.

2. my operating system is so old I can't enjoy the new features of OSX (no app store, no updates for certain programs). my preferred browser (chrome) will no longer update and I am unable to load videos or flash websites.

3. things are just running a little bit slow.

I am considering 2 options for myself:

1. updating to the latest OSX and upgrading to 4 gb of memory

2. buying a new cheaper, non mac, laptop (spending about $500)

so I ask: is it worth updating this old mac that still works pretty well, or would I be better off with a new laptop that is cheaper? obviously buying a brand new mac would be the best choice, but I don't feel like spending $1000 on a laptop again. I figure I could update this one for about $100, but if I did that I would want to get at least 2 more years out of it. Am I dreaming? my fear is that I will update it and 2 months later something big will go wrong (screen will go out, or hard drive, ect.) and I'll just need to buy a new laptop anyway. After all, this laptop is 5 years old and has been used heavily that whole time. Honestly, I'm amazed it's still running, and I'm wondering how far I can push my luck. What do you think?

Thanks,
Josh

Josh,

I am by no means an expert, but I can tell you what I currently have and is working for me.

I have a second-hand mid 2007 MacBook. The memory was boosted to 4 GB in 2009 by the prior owner. I bought it in 2011 and just last year upgraded it to Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5. My processor speed is 2.167 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. My harddrive is 120 GB.

I have been really happy with this laptop so far. It handled the change from Snowleopard to Lion quite nicely, which was a relief since I had read both positive and negative remarks about the older model Mac handling the upgrade.

The only thing "wrong" with my laptop is that one of the USB ports isn't functioning, which is kind of a pain in the butt. The computer lags from time to time, but that is when I am not paying attention, running two browsers maxed on tabs, playing around in GIMP and also working in Word.

In other words-- my bad. LOL

If it was me, I think I would keep your current system and go for the upgrades. I know I wouldn't be happy on a PC again and would be wishing I hadn't blown the money, since they seem to become outdated so quickly.

I also recently found out my laptop was dropped quite a bit before I bought it- a detail that wasn't shared with me. I figure if it can survive that and the abuse I put it through stretching it's brain on a daily basis, it's a pretty solid bet. ;P

I am getting ready to upgrade in a few weeks to the Mac Air and I had planned to sell my 07 model. After giving it some thought, I decided there was really no reason to. It's still a great computer and it's always nice to have back up, even if does feel like brick sitting on my lap from time to time.

upgrading an early 2008 mac book?

dillinjl

louishen

cherry_bomb

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