I know, especially for laptops that there arn't a lot of choices for upgrading, but with the release of Lion and now Mountain Lion approaching there has been a significant decrease in performance. I have an older Macbook Pro, I believe its a 2009 model, had it almost two years now and still runs great. But I am in University, within a Print related field. I need something that can run numerous amounts of Adobe programs. As of right now, running Rockmelt (Browser) and iTunes at the same time slows down. I've cleaned all my cache, history, fixed permissions and so on but nothing seems to help.
I was planning on swapping the ram from 2gbs to 4 this summer, but what else could I do to increase the performance. This has to last me for another few years and with Apples continuous updates of the operating system if I leave my mac the way it is right now it'll get even slower.
Another reason why I want to upgrade is I am a huge Blizzard fan and Diablo 3 is released soon, downloaded the open beta this past weekend and it runs but the frames drop a lot when not in a cave or dungeon.

Any help will be appreciated. I'm currently in Toronto but soon go back home for the summer to Keswick.

Buy an SSD. It will bring the most dramatic change. For me, adding an SSD to a 2010 MBP provided a more visible speed increase than moving from a 2007 - 2010 MacBook Pro (C2D to i7).

if you're running lion on 2GB of RAM thats a huge part of your issue. i have found it to be a dog unless you've got at least 4, preferably 8gb of RAM

So harddrive and ram is what I should do, since I do not know how to remove things myself would it be acceptable to ask apple or would that be a huge fee

Diablo 3 frame-rate issues are caused by your unit's limited video card and processor; more RAM should help a little but overall you shouldn't expect the game to run much better unless you start turning down graphic details (an SSD won't make any difference).

hmm. It's weird because the system requirements for the game looks like my macbook should easily handle it but idk. Is it possible to maybe switch out my graphics card. I know the processor is out of the question but I'm not sure.

hmm. It's weird because the system requirements for the game looks like my macbook should easily handle it but idk.

Most games are given minimum system requirements based on running the game on the lowest graphic settings as to appeal to a larger audience.

Is it possible to maybe switch out my graphics card. I know the processor is out of the question but I'm not sure.

Unfortunately, no. Your MBP, I think, has the 9400M graphics, no? From Blizzard: (Recommended requirements: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M or ATI Radeon™ HD 4670 or better.)

Diablo III System Requirements - Battle.net Support (http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/diablo-iii-system-requirements).

Yeah it does. Idk see for games, I've always used PC's and even when I was younger I never had problems with lower end graphic cards. Hell I remember for years I only had an integrated graphics card and could run games like Half Life 2. I know now games are built differently but still I feel like there should be a way I could modify my macbook to at least run it with decent frames. I'm not expecting full resolution with maxed out graphics, but something in between.

Sorry for the double post but if I downgraded to Snow Leopard would that help at all? I'm pretty sure I still have the original cd from when I bought the mac.

The best you can do for that machine is an SSD and more ram. The ram install is trivial and something anyone can do. The SSD upgrade isn't that difficult on your MacBook if you can follow simple instructions.

How much data does your drive have on it now? That could play a role in which direction we suggest as well as large SSD's are very $$$.

107gbs, 52ish gbs left. I have about 15 gbs of music, no video, MAYBE a gig worth of photos but it's primarily Adobe programs and my stored files from school. The server wipes itself every semester so we have to back up the files on our computers. I have a external harddrive 1 tera and stores my movies and time capsule related things.

I would certainly max the RAM. As previously mentioned we have had numerous threads here about poor performance with Lion and 2GB RAM. Additional RAM should make a big difference in day to day stuff. The fact that Lion era computers are shipping with 4GBs should be an indicator that 4 is more or less the bare bones minimum.

Beyond that if gaming is a big deal to you, you might re-evaluate how much you want to spend on this computer knowing you may never turn it into a world class gamer.

well to put it in perspective when your 13" 09 pro came out it had leopard on it and 2GB of RAM. 2GB is 4 times leopards minimum requirement.

8GB is 4 times lion's minimum requirement

I'd suggest adding 4 to 8 gigs of ram and seeing if that is enough to meet your needs...if not then look at the SSD upgrade.

Would you recommend going to Apple or somewhere else.

Memory is dead easy to install and is easily sourced locally or online. CanadaRam is a forum sponsor and well thought of if you can't find a good deal locally.

Looking at CanadaRam, i looked for mid-2009 macbook pro ram and when I look at my model it says macbook pro 5,5. When I look up what 5,5 is CanadaRam calls it a late 2008 model

You MacBook takes the same RAM DDR3-1066 as the Late 2008 Macbook.

It's also super-easy to install the RAM and the Hard Drive. You unscrew the back plate and both the RAM and Hard Drive are right there.

http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/13inteardownb.jpg

I bought my laptop 15 days before the 2010 model and I end up with a 2008 design. I feel like I've been ripped off a bit. Looking at CanadaRam again, they only sell single 4gb sticks, it's okay to buy two and run it that way?

Yes dual identical sticks is the proper way to go.

If you are not comfortable doing the work yourself (HDD or RAM) or want some piece of mind don't go to Apple but an AASP, much better pricing than Apple; you could expect the work you need to be billed at 1/2 hour.

I bought my laptop 15 days before the 2010 model and I end up with a 2008 design. I feel like I've been ripped off a bit. Looking at CanadaRam again, they only sell single 4gb sticks, it's okay to buy two and run it that way?

Don't worry. The design is still the same internally. Just a better Processor and Video card. I have a 2010 Model 15" MBP. Same RAM, just a Core-i series processor and better Nvidia Card. Otherwise, same stuff ;)

I'm comfortable the ram it's just if I do the harddrive that may make me uncomfortable.

The hard drive is an easy upgrade as well...just buy the SSD and a USB shell for the old drive and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to cone the old drive to the new one. It is very straight forward esp on your generation of MacBook.

But it's not like I just plugin and go, I need to buy additional things for it to work?

To install RAM simply unscrew the back cover, pop out the old sticks and install the new ones. Its just that easy. (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2009-RAM/1334/1)

For a hard drive it is similar but you will need to do an extra step. Before you start download and install Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com/). Next power off the laptop, take the back off, unscrew the bracket that holds the drive in place and then put the new drive in and put the cover back on. Next take the old drive and pop it into an external USB case such as this one (link (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3743049&CatId=2781)). Next plug the USB drive into your Macbook, press and hold the Option key and then press power. Your laptop will now boot and then ask which drive you want to boot from...pick the USB drive and let it finish booting. Now launch Carbon Copy and tell it to clone from the USB drive to the new drive....let it do its thing and when its done you simply reboot as normal.
iFixit link (http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2009-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1337/1)

What SSD would you suggest for my macbook? Ive looked and most are either cheap with less then 100gbs of storage or over a couple hundred. I'm fine with around what I have now 160gbs. Like I mentioned before I don't have a lot on my harddrive other then what I need.

There are number of good SSD's to pick from. I use an OCZ Agility 3 but there are a few others that are good (OWC, Muskin etC)...just make sure it has the newer Sanforce chip and the latest firmware and you should be good.

So when I went to Apple just to inquire what they would charge for them to replace the RAM, they said they do not carry RAM for 5.5 anymore.
- - -
Also: Does my macbook take a 2.5 or 3.5 drive?

This thread is just painful.

This thread is just painful.

Yep.


As has been said before, 2GB of RAM is the bare minimum required for Lion to install. I consider 8GB to be the bare minimum required to run Lion properly. The OS on its own will happily use 4GB, not including any applications you may want to run.

Your MacBook is NEVER going to give you decent frame rates in Diablo, or any other modern game.

The integrated card they come with is fine for video playback, and for the OS. Not for games.

Stop trying to put lipstick on a pig.

If you read from the beginning, my whole point is because of my program in school. At points I'm on Photoshop and Illustrator at the same time, my laptop can barely handle just one. Playing games was just something to entertain me on the side. I have a xbox for that, Diablo was just a childhood memory that I use to play.

OK 2GBs of RAM is by far and away your most serious bottleneck. Running two Adobe RAM hogs such as PS and Illustrator means you are doing everything with memory swaps to the HD. Especially if you are running Lion.

Max the RAM. You should see a major league improvement.

If that does not solve most of your issues, you need to consider swapping the HD for a good SSD. Before doing that you might look into whether a new MBP might be a better move. The MBA is a lightweight in more than one sense of the word.

He has a MacBook pro.

More RAM ;-)