Upgrade Advice

Hi!

Im looking for a bit of advice about a MacBook Pro I am about to aquire.

Its a pretty old Macbook Pro 1.2 (Apple MacBook Pro "Core Duo" 2.16 17" MA092LL/A)
I will be using it mainly for Office type apps, surfing, and a little lightroom/apature photo edits.

I understand its 'kinda' 64bit but becuase of some hardware limitations its really a 32bit machine. If I upgrade the ram to 4gb I can only use 3gb, thats fine. but what I need to know is:

Are 2 matched 2gb dimms better than a 1+2gb? (I heard matched are better, but is it really that much difference in this case?)

Im planning to pop an SSD drive to help with boot time, battery life etc.

As far as I know I can use any drive (as long as it physically fits) was planning to go with a Samsung 840 Pro 128gb, or possibly a 256gb

Has anyone got exepence with putting an SSD in one of these, IE are there any known limitations due to the age of the MacBook?

The MacBook will be using 10.6.8, I hear that 10.7 is possible, but not recommended due it the RAM (recommended is 4gb)

Is this really an issue with the type of usage im planning?

Im not doing video edits or music production, just plain ol 'in the office' type stuff. But I dont want the Mac to be slow when surfing, typing docs etc.

Thanks in advance!

That is the first gen Intel MBP. It looks like most of the advice you've gotten thus far is for the 2nd gen MBP released in late '06 which had the Core 2 Duo chips vs the Core Duo.

That first gen can only use 2 GB RAM - the info you have is true for the 2nd gen.
In the MBP 2,2; using a matched pair of 4 GB maintains the dual channel capability of the machine even though it can only address 3 GB.

The latest version of OS X for the Core Duo chips is 10.6.8. Lion will refuse to install on them. While I am sure there are some work arounds out there on the web to get it to install, I wouldn't even put 10.7 or above on any machine with only 2 GB RAM.

I still have one of those 2nd gen MBPs. Personally, I wouldn't recommend buying any 1st gen Intel Mac with the Core Duo unless you're getting it for a 2nd knock around machine for maybe $50-100 just to experiment with OS X to see if you like it before getting a newer machine. If it's a poor friend you're trying to help out because you have a little more disposable income, ok, maybe $200. I can't conscientiously recommend anyone spend more than $200 on a computer that is now over 7 years old, don't care if it does have an Apple on the lid. Any modern SSD is worth more than any 1st gen Intel Mac imho.

If you want to buy an old Mac, suggest you become familiar with everymac.com for full and complete specs on the ones you're looking at.

Doh, I linked the wrong one. its the 2nd gen:

Apple MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.33 17" Specs
Identifiers: Core 2 Duo/Late 2006 - MA611LL/A

I got it for next to nothing (500 NOK) so I dont mind spending a little on it as I was expecting to pay 4x as much.

I think I will go for 4gb due the the difference being 15/20 usd, the SSD too.

I guess I can play with 10.7 vs 10.6 see if the performance difference is really that different...

thanks for your advice, sorry to lead you astray with my wrong model number

That 2nd gen - To me, it's worth $200 - maybe $250 - it's still coming up to 7 years old now.
At least, that's the max I could sell mine for without knowing I had ripped off some poor unsuspecting schmuck while touting the excellence and superiority of OS X over Windows. And mine has already been upgraded to 4 GB of the fastest CAS RAM available along with a WD 500 GB Black drive. Certainly wouldn't pay over $200 for a stock 2nd gen that's not had any upgrades whatsoever.

I do have Lion installed on it and it does ok. Only problem is that 10.7 is no longer sold (by Apple), so you'll be stuck using 10.6.8. Snow Leopard was/is a good OS, so that's not really a problem on that machine. (You can get 10.7 online from multiple sources, but at this stage in the game, I'd probably just keep 10.6 on it.)

As for spending the cash to put an SSD in it, that'd be up to the individual. I can understand why some might do that if they'll be using it quite a bit. It would certainly give a good boost to startup and application launch times. You need to find out if the seller has the 10.6 disc - if not you should go ahead and spend another $20 and order it from Apple online while they're still selling it.

500nok is about 85 usd so I got it for a reasonable price, thanks for advice about the OS, I will stick with 10.6 for now and see how it goes.

thanks again