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I have a macbook pro 13" 5,5 late 2009 edition, I use it all the time for taking notes and research at college etc. but I also use it to record music for my band and occasionally I play games on it. I am quite a mobile person and whilst a desktop isn't out of the question I'm a student so don't really have much money. I have recently started to play more games and record more music and I'm becoming increasingly aware of my Mac's low performance when gaming and occasionally when recording so I looked online for ways to increase the performance.

I've been considering upgrading to a SSD and changing my measly 2GB of RAM to 8GB.

Will this upgrade actually increase the performance during games? How much?

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  • The SSD will help a bit, as will increased RAM...but honestly it's a five-year-old computer that didn't really have a great gaming graphics chip to begin with. You'd be far better off spending money on a new (or newer) laptop than RAM or an SSD.
    – tubedogg
    Nov 5, 2014 at 1:25
  • IMO, it is not worth it since for good gaming you need GPU+CPU+RAM upgrade, add those together ($$$) and it is almost a new computer.
    – Ruskes
    Nov 5, 2014 at 4:09

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I always recommend an SSD as an upgrade to revitalize just about any system. You will notice a performance increase with an SSD, though it will be mostly load times (we're talking a night and day difference here). You aren't going to increase your frame rate. Sure, it's true that your system doesn't have many more years (months) left in it, but if you buy a good SSD you can move it to your next system.

8GB of RAM isn't too expensive, so it really depends on how long you want to keep the system. Any performance boost you notice may or may not be your imagination.

If it were me, I'd do both because I do like to squeeze the last bit of life out of my electronics (though I would have done these upgrades a few years ago) and if it is generally working for your basic needs why get a new laptop?

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More RAM will always give you a nice little performance boost but the real power comes down to what processor you have.

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IMO it is not worth if you do the math.

You would come by for a short while with SSD + RAM, but soon to find out you do not have enough computing power.

You would need to upgrade the GPU + CPU + RAM + SSD to bring it up to snuff to last you another 3-5 years.

So what ever money you spend, it will not bring you up to today's standard and maybe only improve by a equivalent of a 2010 type.

Battery - $130

RAM - $100

SSD - $150 - $500

GPU- tbd up to $800

CPU- can not do

Total aprox $500 to $1300 ??

Alternative:

Your computer is worth about $400 on the market.

Then you need to add some $1000 to get state of the art computer refurbished by Apple.

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