MacBook (unibody late 2008) - RAM question

Question

Hi All,
I am fairly new to this community but from I have seen so far there is a lot of knowledge contained in these threats.
I have a MacBook (unibody late 2008) with the following specifications:
Hardware Overview:
  Model Name:          MacBook
  Model Identifier:          MacBook5,1
  Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:          2 GHz
  Number of Processors:          1
  Total Number of Cores:          2
  L2 Cache:          3 MB
  Memory:          2 GB
  Bus Speed:          1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version:          MB51.007D.B03
  SMC Version (system):          1.32f8
  Serial Number (system):          W8******1AQ
  Hardware UUID: ******
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:          Enabled
After installing Lion a few weeks ago everything has significantly slowed down I feel that a revamp boosting RAM and memory would help. I currently have 2GB RAM (2 x 1GB) and 160GB hard drive. Hard drive details below:
NVidia MCP79 AHCI:
  Vendor:          NVidia
  Product:          MCP79 AHCI
  Link Speed:          3 Gigabit
  Negotiated Link Speed:          1.5 Gigabit
  Description:          AHCI Version 1.20 Supported
FUJITSU MHZ2160BH FFS G1:
  Capacity:          160.04 GB (160,041,885,696 bytes)
  Model:          FUJITSU MHZ2160BH FFS G1               
  Revision:          0081008C
  Serial Number:                  K64******N6T
  Native Command Queuing:          Yes
  Queue Depth:          32
  Removable Media:          No
  Detachable Drive:          No
  BSD Name:          disk0
  Medium Type:          Rotational
  Partition Map Type:          GPT (GUID Partition Table)
  S.M.A.R.T. status:          Verified
  Volumes:
disk0s1:
  Capacity:          209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)
  BSD Name:          disk0s1
  Content:          EFI
Macintosh HD:
  Capacity:          159.18 GB (159,182,127,104 bytes)
  Available:          16.87 GB (16,865,333,248 bytes)
  Writable:          Yes
  File System:          Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name:          disk0s2
  Mount Point:          /
  Content:          Apple_HFS
Recovery HD:
  Capacity:          650 MB (650,002,432 bytes)
  BSD Name:          disk0s3
  Content:          Apple_Boot
I have done some research on line and I have the following questions:
RAM
1) What is the maximum RAM my mac can take without causing problems. Apple mentions that the maximum RAM is 4GB (2 x 2GB) but I have seen mentioned in threats that up to 8GB have been installed.
2) The RAM quoted in the specs from apple is DDR3 PC3-8500/DDR3-1066. Could I use a faster chip such as DDR3 PC3-10600/DDR3-1333 or is this upgrade not advisable.
Hard Drive
1) Is there a limit to the maximum capacity re hard drive. The maximum apple used to offer this model was 320GB. I would ideally would like to go up to 500GB to 1TB.
2) The specs of my existing drive are: 160GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive. Could I get a faster disk, say 7200 rpm to increase performance and will this have any significant impact on battery life and heat?
Further more any recommendations in terms of any of the above welcome.
A lot of information but I wanted to offer all the info needed for meaningful advice.
Thanks in advance.
<Edited By Host>

Answer 1

Hi Christos77,
I also have a late 2008 13 inch unibody MacBook - mine has the 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 250GB Toshiba hard drive.  At the beginning of January I upgraded my RAM from the original 2GB to 8GB from OWC and it made an enormous difference to the functionality of my machine.  In fact, it turned it from being almost unusable to working in a reasonable way. 
The recent death of my Time Capsule has prompted me to re-think my setup and, basically, what I need is a drive with greater capacity than my original Toshiba 250GB that the MacBook shipped with.  I'm currently working with only 11.65GB of Available disk space so I need to do something pretty quickly.
I've been researching over the past couple of days and decided that my need for storage is greater than my need for speed so I've decided to replace my existing HDD with a new HDD instead of going down the OWC 'Data Doubler' route. 
I, too, thought that the 750GB WD Scorpio Black 7200 rpm drive would be the best (and most cost-effective) solution but I've read reports from some users that it was either noisy and/or hot.  However, none of these comments came from users with a late 2008 MacBook.
I would be very grateful if you could confirm that, after almost twelve months, you're still happy with your WD Scorpio Black drive in your late 2008 MacBook?
One last question ... when you now check the Serial ATA details in the  System  Report, does it still show your new WD hard drive having a 'Negotiated Link Speed' of 1.5 GB or is it now SATA 2 (i.e. 3GB)?
Many thanks for your help.
Cheers
Tricia
BTW I've been running OS X 10.7.x on my system since it came out - no problems at all with it - am thinking of upgrading to 10.8 because I've read that it takes a little less space and is more efficient in memory management - but will have to check a few more things first before I decide to do that!
Message was edited by: Patricia Henwood to add OS details