What to do with a Macbook 4,1

joeyjojo

joeyjojo

joeyjojo

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I've been asked by a friend about options to get a bit more life out of a (Canadian-bought) MacBook4,1 (early 2008).

Although the best spec of its type (2.4 GHz C2D, 2 G RAM) it's showing its age, and various softwares aren't supported any more (e.g. Firefox is stuck at 16.0.2). It's had a new battery recently though and it's in pretty good physical shape.

It's currently got OSX 10.5.8 on it (Leopard). The last supported version of OSX is 10.7 (Lion), which is only $19.99. Good idea? A new laptop isn't really an option.

Edit: except Lion needs 10.6.6+, so she'll have to buy 10.6 (Snow Leopard) for another $20 first? Maybe Snow Leopard will be enough?
 
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Thanks Nymins. I've looked over that link and it looks like you need a Snow Leopard/Lion machine to actually download/run the installer, which we don't have.

I'm still not sure a new OSX is the answer, especially as Apple seem to have dropped Lion already?

I quite like the SSD idea, it looks easy to replace.
 
Lion, RAM and an SSD.

Lion will ensure you can run the latest apps, SSD will make it snappier. You can also up the RAM to 4GB which will benefit you no end.

2.4GHz Core 2 Duo's are no slouch - they're not so good for video rendering but for day to day use they are more than adequate.
 
Thanks M3G4UK. Got 4 G memory arriving today.

OSX noob question: how do you validate an install? Does the Snow Leopard CD come with an install key? Does the Lion installer require a key, how do they send it to you, email?
 
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