Chosen Solution

Hey everyone! I’m looking to upgrade my 2009 MBP 2.53 just because it’s running very slowly and is due for battery replacement. I’d like to use it for work, which is mainly website maintenance on Wix/Wordpress, browsing, occasional light video editing, PowerPoint/Keynote presentations connected to HDTV, with iTunes/Spotify in the background. I’m about ready to purchase from ifixit a new battery, 8GB of RAM, and the Seagate 500 GB Hybrid SSD, but I thought I’d ask a couple questions from you experts first :) For the type of work I described, is it worth it to spend extra on a SSD (would probably have to compromise for smaller amount of storage) over a Hybrid? Also is there any benefit to battery life using one or the other? As for RAM, I’ve read that although Apple rates my MBP for 8GB max, but others are saying I could go for 16GB. Is that worth the effort/expense or should 8GB suffice since I won’t be able to run anything past El Capitan? I don’t need the most powerful computer of all time, just something that’ll serve me well for maybe another year or two while I save and wait to purchase a totally new computer later. Edit: Last thing, do I also need to purchase a new hard drive cable or is that included when you buy a new hard drive already? Forgive my ignorance, I’m new here and this is my first computer repair job. Thanks so much for your time!

8 GB of RAM is fine. Few programs can even use that much. For the work you are doing I think an SSHD will do the job. Check how full your current drive is to determine if a 500 GB will suffice or if you need to go to a 1 TB.

  • UPDATE 1/6/17 @pccheese - Please take a look at this discussion when I asked this question on Meta and see what Louis Rossman, Oldturkey , Nick and Dan had to say about it. https://meta.ifixit.com/Answers/View/678…

@mayer is the expert, but an SSD on an old laptop can work wonders. On my 10 year old laptop with a hdd, the drive usage spikes to 100% just from opening chrome. On my modern computer with a SSD, opening chrome is instant and barely impacts the drive at all. SSD upgrades apply to both MAC and PC. You can get a 500 GB SSD these days for about $120. Hope this helps.