I have 1 GB RAM on an '07 MacBook Pro. 1) How do I check remaining memory? 2) I have Microsoft office 2004 - do I need to buy more RAM to upgrade to '11? 3) I need a new battery ... Is it worth the $$ to buy a new battery, RAM and Microsoft office 2011?

Question

I have a MacBook Pro from '07 with 1 GB of memory. The battery is shot and my AppleCare has run out. I just upgraded the OS to 10.6.8. But a few questions:
1 - How do I even check how much memory I have left on this computer?
2 - How do I check how many battery cycles are left?
3 - I want to upgrade to Microsoft Office '11 because I don't have Adobe Acrobat to creat pdf's and I need to be able to do this for school... Instead of buying acrobat, I figured I would just upgrade to Office '11 because I can generate pdf's from Word. Roughly how much RAM does Office '11 take up?
4 - Does Apple still make batteries for this computer (from '07)? How much do they cost?
5 - How much does 1 more GB of memory cost?
AND lastly -- is it even worth it to spend the $ on more RAM, a new battery and Office '11?
Or does it make more sense to just get a new computer entirely? (trying to avoid this).
ANY help would be sooo appreciated! Thanks.

Answer 1

1 - How do I even check how much memory I have left on this computer?
If you're asking how to check to see if you need more RAM, open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory tab, then compare page outs and page ins.  If page outs is 10% or more of page ins, you probably need more RAM.
2 - How do I check how many battery cycles are left?
There's no limit on the number of battery cycles, it's just that the more cycles you've used the more "worn out" your battery gets.  You've got a 4-year-old machine, and if it's still got the original battery, it's probably about time for a replacement battery.  You can check battery health using System Profiler...  look at the Power section under Hardware.
3 - I want to upgrade to Microsoft Office '11 because I don't have Adobe Acrobat to creat pdf's and I need to be able to do this for school... Instead of buying acrobat, I figured I would just upgrade to Office '11
You don't need Office 2011 to create PDFs.  Any application capable of printing can create PDFs on a Mac.  Just choose File -> Print, but instead of clicking the Print button in the print dialog, click the PDF button and choose Save As PDF in the menu that appears.
4 - Does Apple still make batteries for this computer (from '07)? How much do they cost?
5 - How much does 1 more GB of memory cost?
I'll "ditto" sig's answers to these.
AND lastly -- is it even worth it to spend the $ on more RAM, a new battery and Office '11?
Or does it make more sense to just get a new computer entirely? (trying to avoid this).
If Office 2004 is still working fine for you, stick with that and don't incur the costs of Office 2011.  As to the RAM, only add more if the test I mentioned above indicates that you need it.  If you buy more RAM when you don't really need it, you won't see much (if any) performance improvement.  That just leaves the battery...  and if the machine is still doing what you need it to do and you don't really need a new machine for anything, you could definitely buy a new battery and get a few more years out of it.