Upgrading my Macbook. Need information.

Hi,
I'm wanting to upgrade my MacBook, Early 2008 13.3-Inch 2.1GHz.
I'm currently running Ableton Live Suite 8.0 and Logic 8 on it, I only have 2GB of RAM and it's starting to lag out quite a bit. I'm wanting to buy 2x2GB of RAM, but I'm not sure where I should get it. I know that Apple charges a lot for their RAM so I was thinking of going third party.
I found this place:
http://www.memoryupgrade.pro/2gb-apple-macbook-early-2008-133-inch-21ghz-667mhz- so-dimm.html
and they seem reasonably priced. I just want to know if there will be anything that might go haywire if I install it.
Also my Macbook has been acting a little strange lately. I have around 20GB of hard drive space left but in finder it fluctuates between 20 and 23 GB, give or take. I've been trying to purge my hard drive of unnecessary programs and files but it doesn't seem to change anything. Is my hard drive on the way out?

One of two things:
1) your log files are filling very quickly
2) Your computer is rapidly creating swap files due to lack of RAM
You can try to monitor this activity by opening Activity Monitor (Applications>Utilities), then clicking on the *System Memory* tab. Watch the numbers listed next to *Page Outs*.
I'd also check your log files. To do this:
*In Finder, click on *Macintosh HD*
*Click the Go menu & choose *Go to Folder..."
*Copy the next line & paste it into the box:
/private/var/log
*Watch the files in here and see if any reach GB in size. If so, you have a problem that needs to be dealt with, and we will do our best to help.
~Lyssa

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I need to upgrade my macbook ram and hard drive pls help

Hi all,
I need to upgrade my macbook's RAM and hard drive as after 3 yrs of use it is showing signs of aging.
I am novice in hardware stuff. I am planning on doing it entirely by myself and on tight budget will need to compare the prices across sellers and buy a suitable peice of kit. Please help
Questions:
1 - How to find out which RAm do I need to buy and what is the maximum I can go on my macbook?
2 - How to find which hard drive to buy and what is the maximum my macbook will support?
3 - Can I buy the SSD drive instead of SATA for this macbook?
Some of the specs are listed below:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:          MacBook
Model Identifier:          MacBook5,2
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:          MB52.0088.B05
SMC Version (system):          1.38f5
MANY THANKS FOR READING AND REPLYING TO MY POST
[email protected]

Hi Chefjeegar
Yes that screwdriver kit has the #00 phillips screwdriver that you need to access the RAM and hard drive. You'll also need the Torx driver to change the hard drive. http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Computer-Technician-Precision-Torx/dp/B0000934GO/r ef=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1348072554&sr=1-1
For a good explanation about RAM look at the page on OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/MacBook/DDR2/
In the UK Amazon or eBay might be your best bet for cheap RAM but read the description and reviews carefully. For a little more expensive but with a better warranty is Crucial UK http://www.crucial.com/uk/
A good resource for working on your MacBook is ifixit.com http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Core_2_Duo
Is your external hard drive formatted for Mac? To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Put the new drive in your MacBook, then format and partition the new drive. Then use Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer your OS back to the new drive.
Yes, you can put an SSD in the MacBook.

I need to upgrade my MacBook 13" white 2008 hard drive. I have found a WD6400BPVT western digital Scorpio blue 640GB (5400rpm) SATA 8MB 2.5" will this fit and work? Many thanks for any help

I need to upgrade my MacBook 13" white 2008 hard drive. I have found a WD6400BPVT western digital Scorpio blue 640GB (5400rpm) SATA 8MB 2.5" will this fit and work? Many thanks for any help

I had a 640GB HDD in my Early 2008 Macbook and it was just too much it would always freeze up the computer a bit for only a few seconds but ya. Then I realized that it was the size of the HDD that was causing it since the Early 2008 Macbook models can only handle a MAX od 500GB while the Early 2008 Macbook Pros could have a MAX of 640GB (Lucked out there!) lol But ya the Early 2008 Mocbooks can only handle a MAX HDD size of 500GB and that's it!! lol

What All Do I Need If I Want To Upgrade My Macbook Hard Drive?

hey guys.
i've tried reading up a little but i was hoping someone (or a few people) could give me some straight up answers.
if i want to upgrade my macbook hard drive what all do i need? just the hard drive? or are there other pieces?
also.. whats a good 250GB one? i found this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2-5-Western-Digital-250GB-SATA-Harddrive_W0QQitemZ220271 134397QQihZ012QQcategoryZ158853QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
is that one any good? i just know the name (Western Digital) and have heard good things about them...
any comments are welcome.
thanks!
beau

I got a 320GB sata 2.5" hard drive and installed it myself, its easy. I also got a caddy so I can use my old 120GB drive as a back up. Make sure u have everything backed up! Seagate and western digital drives are most popular. I asked similar q and got this answer"
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
If your backup is bootable, then boot from the external drive and use SuperDuper to clone it back to the newly installed drive.
Mac Pro 2.66 Ghz; MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 Ghz; MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Mac OS X (10.5.4) Intel iMac C2D 17 "; MacBook 2.0 Ghz.
And
Now, to install the hard drive, follow http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Core-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/86/5/

I am having trouble switching to iCloud. I've upgrade my iPhone software to iOS5, but when I try to upgrade my Macbook software OS 10.6.8 to Lion 10.7.2 it says I need "Core 2, Duo, Core i3, i5, i7, or Xeon processor. $$%^

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<Email Edited by Host>

It's a bad idea to post your email address - it's an invitation to spam - and I've asked the Hosts to remove it. You should not expect people to email you - this is an open forum.
I'm afraid your Mac cannot be upgraded to Lion, and thus is not compliant with iCloud. The only option you have there is to set Mail up manually to access your iCloud email, but the other facilities won't work.
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I want to upgrade my MacBook Pro 5,2 to Lion, but specs says i need intel core 3 and i have intel core 2, there will be a problem? my computer will run slow? I will need to reinstall my programs again?

I want to upgrade my MacBook Pro 5,2 to Lion, but specs says i need intel core 3 and i have intel core 2, there will be a problem? my computer will run slow? I will need to reinstall my programs again?
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Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro5,2
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          6 MB
Memory:          8 GB
Bus Speed:          1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          MBP52.008E.B05
SMC Version (system):          1.42f4
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State:          Enabled

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I am open to upgrade the hardware, what options do I have?
Motherboard?
HDD?
Anyway I can increase RAM from 4 GM to higher?
Appreciate tips...

It was a mistake on my part, I tried reinstalling the RAM chips... I love the speed now...
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An Upgrade is a complete new Operating System that must be purchased. Such as 10.5 Leopard to 10.6 Snow Leopard.
You need to upgrade to 10.6. The Snow Leopard 10.6 DVD should still be available from Apple for $20. You will have to call Apple Customer Care 1-800-692-7753 or 1-800-676-2775 to purchase it. It may still be in the Legacy Products list.
The App Store which is required to download 10.7 or 10.8 is part of the 10.6.6 update.
If they no longer have any in stock you will have to buy it from eBay or Apple resellers that still have stock. But you will have to pay a premium since the DVDs are no longer being made. Snow Leopard DVDs are already up to $100 on Amazon.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=10.6+snow+leopard&_sacat=0&_odkw=mac+os+10.6 &_osacat=0
First we need to know which one of the 9 different models of MacBook you have. To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info (and then System Report if you’re running 10.7 Lion). When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.
The Early 2006 model 1,1 Core Duo can only run a maximum of 10.6 Snow Leopard.
The models Late 2006 Core 2 Duos 2,1 through Early 2008 4,1 can only run a maximum of 10.7 Lion.
The Late 2008 model 5,1 Aluminum Unibody through the Mid 2010 White Unibody model 7,1 can run 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Mac OS 10.5 Leopard became obsolete in July of 2009. Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard came out in July of 2009 and became obsolete in July of 2011 when 10.7 Lion was introduced. Unlike earlier Operating Systems which were removed from the Apple Store when a new OS came out Apple kept Snow Leopard around for a year until 10.8 Mountain Lion came out because the App Store which came out with the 10.6.6 update was required to download Lion.. When Mountain Lion came out they removed Snow Leopard and Lion from the online store.

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What do I need to do to upgrade my macbook pro 17 from OS X 10.4.11 to Version 10.5.8

What do I need to do to upgrade my macbook pro 17 from OS X 10.4.11 to OS X 10.5.8

Locate and purchase a copy of Leopard. They may be found on eBay and Amazon.com. Be sure to only purchase a retail package.
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Third-party sources for Snow Leopard are:
Snow Leopard from Amazon.com
Snow Leopard from eBay
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store.

Hello. I just upgraded to Lion OS X 10.7.3. I was previously running 10.5.7 which included the ENTOURAGE application. how do I retrieve needed information from this application that no longer runs on this new system?

Hello. I just upgraded to Lion OS X 10.7.3. I was previously running 10.5.7 which included the ENTOURAGE application. how do I retrieve needed information from this application that no longer runs on this new system?

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Good luck
srb

I have upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 late 2011 to 8Gb RAM, now when I go to about this mac in it more info it doesn't show AMD graphics card as it used to before, it just show Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB is that a problem that I need to worry about?

I have upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 late 2011 to 8Gb RAM, now when I go to about this mac in it more info it doesn't show AMD graphics card as it used to before, it just show Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB is that a problem that I need to worry about?
and in system report >> hardware >> Graphics/Display >> it shows both grafics card listed.

Some Mac's when the RAM is increased the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics will bump itself up to the higher video RAM it takes, this seems to be what occured.
It also means the dedicated graphics card will be used less, but only so slightly less.
You obviously still should have both, you can test this by turning off Graphics Switching in Energy Saver, that will use the decicated AMD card all the time.
You can also run Cinebench and compare the scores here
Mac video card performance

I recently upgraded my Macbook Air to Mountain Lion and now I cannot seem to find my "notes", regardless of the countless answers given to people with questions similar to me. Surely Apple wouldn't make you lose all your important information. If some

I recently upgraded my Macbook Air to the mighty "Mountain Lion" and now I cannot seem to find my "notes", regardless of the countless answers given to people with questions similar to me.
Surely Apple wouldn’t make you lose all your important information-or they would be "bad apples".
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I recently upgraded my Macbook Air to the mighty "Mountain Lion" and now I cannot seem to find my "notes", regardless of the countless answers given to people with questions similar to me.
Surely Apple wouldn’t make you lose all your important information-or they would be "bad apples".
If someone has a solution, please please please help me find my lovely notes! (Step by step would be most helpful). Cyber high fives and Smiles will be rewarded graciously.

Is it possible to upgrade a macbook pro 15 late 2008 memory upgrade to 8 go

Hi from Belgium,
Is it possible to upgrade a macbook pro 15 late 2008 memory from 4 to 8 go. And if yes would i have to replace both memory modules.
I'm also experiencing problems with the battery. Could you tell me if the new replacement batteries are based on the new techonology (long lasting) or if the replacement battery will be the same as the original one.
Thanks and have a good day.
Francis

Hi CMCSK and thanks.
Maybe it's because of the SMC reset I've done.
My computer wasn't responding to the power button when pressed and used to shut down unexpectedly so I did the SMC reset as per the procedure hereafter.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US
So according to you, the battery seems to work properly and doesn't need to be replaced.
Don't know if it's important but the figures I gave where the one with magsafe connected.
In fact for the time beeing I only use my computer with magsafe plugged.
I just unplugged the magpower and here are the new figures after 10 minutes.
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          3103
Fully Charged:          No
Charging:          No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          3491
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          245
Condition:          Normal
Battery Installed:          Yes
Amperage (mA):          -1431
Voltage (mV):          11816
Are these figures still ok ? Thanks for your help and have a good day.
Francis

Can I upgrade my macbook air's SSD?

I have heard that people have successfully upgraded their MacBook AIr's SSD to a larger capacity. I want to know if its true? If so, can I do it myself or I have to ask technician to help?
I currently have the MacBook Air 13'' 128 G SSD. I'm very satisfied with the blazing speed of SSD. However, I'm a music maker and a photographer. I realized I need more space for putting BIG SOFTWARES such as LOGIC PRO (with upgraded add-on total 50G), Aperture, etc... Apparently, the current 128G SSD cannot satisfy my need.
I DO NOT want to install the software onto my external hard drive because I cannot bring the external hard drive everywhere. So, if any of you can help, please leave opinions.
Thanks!

Upgrading a SSD is 99% of the time a bad idea, not only due to costs, but primarily because people do it for the WRONG reasons.
see here:
Your Solid State Drive and having enough space inside your Macbook Air & Pro
Solid State Drive usage premise, or the “more space / upgrade SSD” question
There have been questions posed and positions taken by many people who are trying to use their Macbook Air or Pro’s solid state drive (SSD) as a mass media storage device, for either pictures, videos, massive music collections or all three combined; but this should not be the working premise of a ‘limited’ SSD and its use.
In which, it’s the case of those users with either 128GB, 256GB, or even 512GB of internal SSD space, that have or are running “out of space”, that questions are raised. The immediate premise of some users can sometimes be “(how to / if) upgrading my SSD” when in fact in nearly all instances another approach is the logical and sensible one that needs to be looked into and exercised.
Any Macbook containing a SSD should be idealized as a ‘working platform’ notebook containing all your applications, documents, and weekly or bi-weekly necessary files. All collections of media files such as pictures, music, and videos, unless directly needed should be kept off the notebook and on an external hard drive or likewise. While the ‘working platform’ premise is also the case with larger internal conventional hard drives of 1TB+, its implementation isn't as critical except in terms of data protection.
Realistically, you should at most coordinate roughly 20 to 25% of your total SSD space to all audio-video personal use media (picture / music / video collections), leaving the remaining amount on an external HD.
Nobody should consider any notebook a data storage device at any time under any circumstance, rather a data creation, sending, and manipulation device; and in the case of a SSD, this is more important for purposes of having sufficient working space on the SSD and reducing SSD ‘bloat’ in which cases someone is wrongly attempting to use the SSD space as a large media storage nexus.
The rare exception to the collective usage and premise of SSD use in which a much larger SSD is truly needed are for those in video and photography professions that require both the extremely fast speeds of the SSD and the onboard storage for large and or many video and photography files. However this also falls under the premise of a ‘working platform’ for such peoples rather than the intent of many who are using the SSD as passive and static data storage for media files very infrequently needed or accessed.
All on-notebook data collections should be logically approached as to necessity, and evaluated as to whether it is active or passive data that likely doesn’t need to be on the notebook, allocations of space-percentages to as-needed work and use, apportioning space for your entertainment media, and questioning whether it should it be on the notebook for more than short-term consumption.
Considerations should be made in the mind of any user in differentiating the necessary system data (System hub) comprising the Mac OSX, applications, necessary documents that both must and should be on your internal SSD, and that of the users personal data (Data hub) comprising created files, pictures, music, videos, PDF files, data created or being created and otherwise, that likely unless being used soon or often should be parked on an external hard drive for consumption, or temporarily loading onto the internal SSD.
You both can and should purchase whichever SSD size you need or see fit, but even in the case of the largest of SSD, unless use-considerations are made, and SSD spaces are allocated as should be the case indicated above, one can easily and immediately run into this quandary of “needing more internal SSD space”, in which instance a different approach in usage must then be implemented.
However it is almost always the case, that such large media files are wanted to be stored internally rather than actually needed, in which case the external HD is both prudent as well as necessary. Additionally costs per MB are infinitely less on an external HD than an internal SSD in any consideration of data expansion needs.
A Professional Example
In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.
You should also never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your Macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’. This is especially what your external HD is for.
Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their notebooks internal SSD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your Macbook has a SSD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your notebook to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.
Slim USB3 1TB external hard drive
External Hard Drives
External hard drives are both extremely cheap and regardless of the size of your internal SSD (or even internal hard drive if the case), you need an external hard drive with your SSD equipped Macbook for several reasons:
1. Data backup and protection.
2. Redundancy for important data.
3. Necessitated ideal space for large media files for collections of pictures, videos, and music etc.
While ever changing in price, typical portable 2.5” external hard drives in USB3 run roughly $65 for 1TB or $120 for 2TB small portable USB3 hard drives. Such drives range in thickness between 5mm and 15mm, with recent improvements in storage of 500GB drives in 5mm profiles.
There is almost no premise in which a small 12mm thick 1 Terabyte USB hard drive cannot be taken along with any Macbook as an external large storage extension inside any Macbook carry case or pouch. Typically such external HD profiles are not much bigger than a deck of cards.
External hard drives are a foregone necessity for purchase with any Macbook for at the very least Time Machine backups, data redundancies, and ideally for large media storage.

Upgrading my Macbook. Need information.

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