Replace Laptop or Upgrade HD and RAM?

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MD546LL/A - MacBookPro9,1
I am considering upgrading my laptop because it is running significantly slower than it used to. I have a MacBook Pro mid 2009, core 2 duo 2.53Ghz, version 5,5 with 4GB of RAM. My main use of the laptop is for recording and processing music using ProTools 11. However, simple tasks seem to be resource taxing and slowing down the laptop. I plan to do a fresh install of Yosemite, but wanted to know if this planned upgrade is better than buying a new MacBook. Will I notice the upgraded difference?

1) upgrading my RAM from 4GB to 8GB
2) upgrading my HD from the stock 5400 rpm to this SSD by OWC: OWC SSD7E3G240 240GB Mercury Electra 3G SSD 2.5" Serial-ATA... at OWC
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Both of those upgrades will certainly help to give a boost to your 2009 MacBook Pro and at the same time not run into an over spending situation. With a machine of that age, you don't want to put a whole lot of $ into it since you don't know how much longer it will hold up for you.
 

pigoo3

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First. If you are truly having performance issues with doing your computing tasks (issues related to CPU and GPU)...then a ram and/or SSD will not help much

- An SSD is not really going to help...since an SSD only speeds up opening of files & applications...and speeds up boot time. An SSD is really not going to help a ton with activities that involve the CPU and GPU.

- More ram can help. So an upgrade from 4 to 8gig may help (I think that your computer can do 8 gig). But again...more ram isn't going to help much if it's the computers CPU and GPU that are the main perfomance limitation.

Of course these upgrades will be far less expensive than purchasing a brand new computer (assuming you didn't go "crazy" buying a large SSD).:)

- Nick
 
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Thanks, guys. I just purchased a 240GB SSD and 8GB RAM from OWC. I'm going to partition the disk and have Snow Leopard in one half and Yosemite in the other. :) Total cost: $252.
 

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