Worth upgrading OS?

Vixen · 21 Aug 2011 at 17:34

I've been thinking about using my laptop instead of my dying pc but it's quite slow at loading web pages and I feel that I'm potentially missing out not having access to the app store. The laptop is a 3 year old Macbook with a 2.4GHz Core Duo and 2Gb RAM, currently running 10.5.8.

Is it worth upgrading to Snow Leopard or Lion? If so, why?

Thanks,

Vixen x

Skepticx · 22 Aug 2011 at 15:15

Currently Lion has a few programs that are not compatiable, so you might want to search around to see if all the programs you use are ok with Lion.

http://lifehacker.com/5822894/should-i-upgrade-to-mac-os-x-lion

Nice little page to help you decide.

At the moment no real point upgrading to SL you may aswell go straight to Lion if you do upgrade.

Skully · 22 Aug 2011 at 17:13

Skepticx said:
At the moment no real point upgrading to SL you may aswell go straight to Lion if you do upgrade.

You may need to read the following however,

http://www.macworld.com/article/161087/2011/07/install_lion_over_leopard.html

"andy" · 23 Aug 2011 at 13:55

yea it may be a carry on to do it legit via the downloads but the USB lion key that they are now selling should install it no problems

as for being slow at loading web pages have you tried different browsers ? i found chrome to be umpteen times faster than safari on my core duo blackbook

Feek · 23 Aug 2011 at 14:16

If it's a Core Duo CPU then it's not officially supported by Lion and the install will fail unless you mess around with it to make it work. Personally I wouldn't bother trying Lion but I'd go to Snow Leopard and increase the memory to 4Gb (if the hardware will allow it).

Hello, btw! Long time no see

Doug · 23 Aug 2011 at 14:54

Just looked them up on the Apple support site and all MacBooks from 2007 onward are Core 2 Duo, so you should be all set for Lion.

A well known memory manufacturer has an upgrade advisor that you just need to select your system from the menus to get compatible RAM. You're looking at £37 for 4GB DDR2, and less than £20 for DDR3, depending on the exact model MacBook you have.

My MBP is the same 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB, and I'd highly recommend an SSD. Nothing too crazy though, as you're limited by the SATA controller in the old 'book, but something along the lines of a Vertex or Apex would do nicely.

I'd also say that you're better off getting Lion through the App Store than buying the USB version. The cost of Snow Leopard + Lion is less than the Lion USB, plus you can make your own USB installer with the App Store download.