Worth upgrading a 2010 clamshell macbook?
The oldest Mac in the house is my wife's 2010 macbook (white clamshell).
Well, it seems to be running slower and slower.... Especially after I jump over to it from a newer ipad or imac, etc...
So, I, trying to figure out whether it's worth upgrading and if so, how?
4gb ram to 8gb ram?
250g hd to a 250gb ssd?
Both?
Neither?
Well, it seems to be running slower and slower.... Especially after I jump over to it from a newer ipad or imac, etc...
So, I, trying to figure out whether it's worth upgrading and if so, how?
4gb ram to 8gb ram?
250g hd to a 250gb ssd?
Both?
Neither?
Comments
These laptops are selling on eBay between $400-500. If you take off Paypal/eBay charges, you'll be looking at about $380. A refurb 2013 13" Air with 256GB SSD is $979:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD761LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-air-13ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5
So $600 upgrade for a new computer.
SSD upgrade is only $130 for 250GB, $239 for 500GB:
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726
For the ~$470 difference between the SSD upgrade and the new machine, you also get USB 3, PCIe SSD, longer battery life, half the weight, backlit keyboard, 720p camera, 802.11ac wifi, Thunderbolt, 3x faster GPU, 2x CPU, metal enclosure and a warranty.
I looked at the activity monitor and it doesnt report page ins/out, but "memory pressure"
It was in the yellow zone, edging to red.
zero memory was available.
So- I'm thinking its worth the short trip from 4GB-8GB.
Also, 256GB SSD's were on sale for $99 yesterday, so I figured Id get one to try out...
(worst case scenario, I have 2 other macbooks it could be used in)
Also found crucial memory (8GB) for $79, so that seems reasonable.
So, $180 all-in to give this macbook a boost in life.
btw- I DID like your comparison to selling it used and just applying it towards a newer macbook. but heres the problem: I hate the PITA of SELLING used gear online.
I've bought all 4 macbooks we own via craigslist, but find buying easier than selling... I know- it sounds dumb. When I outgrow some item (Ipad first gen for example) I usually just donate it or hand-it-down to someone rathyer than try to sell it 2nd hand.
In Mavericks and Yosemite, you'd check swap used at the bottom left of the Activity Monitor window. If that's zero, you haven't run out of memory. It resets after a reboot so you'd have to leave it running for a while to see.
With enough RAM and an SSD, that should eliminate the main bottlenecks.
btw- I DID like your comparison to selling it used and just applying it towards a newer macbook. but heres the problem: I hate the PITA of SELLING used gear online.
I've bought all 4 macbooks we own via craigslist, but find buying easier than selling... I know- it sounds dumb. When I outgrow some item (Ipad first gen for example) I usually just donate it or hand-it-down to someone rathyer than try to sell it 2nd hand.
I hate the PITA of selling gear in general, so I often neglect to weight residual value when determining the value of a purchase. Sometimes I feel like a technology graveyard. Anyway my point in responding was to mention that at its age you should also consider that if you're on the original battery, it may not have much life left. I've had 2 swell up after several years of use, even though they still held a charge. It becomes harder to use the trackpad, and your only options are to live with it or take it in for service. The clamshell battery is around $100 for a replacement.
Go for it. What they will give you is a joke. Keep what you have and go on in life.