Tiger upgrade questions for older intel macbook

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captain.joco

Registered
Hello!

I have a MacBook ( purchased in 2006 ), 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, everything else is standard. OS X is version 10.4.11.

Some people might find it weird, but am perfectly happy with this OS version, and my sister runs flawlessly for all my uses. However, I finally reached the wall. I need to use some software ( scisoft ), and other astronomy / programming stuff that doesn't exist on OS versions older then Leopard.

My question would it be, if I upgrade my OS to the latest one ( SnowLeopard ), will the computer run as smooth as ever, without lag or anything annoying like that ( I am reluctant on doing this due to my windows childhood days, when putting a new os on an old machine was a disaster ).

Another possible problem is that I have HDD size of about 55GB ( old school! ), and I have no idea how much the new OSes (Snow) Leopard take, disregarding stuff like GarageBand or iMove and such as I never use them and delete them straight away ( even stuff like iPhoto etc.. ).

Alternative to this is of course buying a new shiny machine, but given my budget, I will not be able to afford any good new macbook. Reverting to a Linux operated pc lap top is always an option, but I find mac user experience much more enjoyable with all the goodies of the Linux and Mac world ( as far as my usage goes anyway ).

Maybe this is just outside the topic, I would be very grateful if someone could explain to me what is the main difference between Intel Core Duo, and Intel Core 2 Duo.

Thank you very much in advance.
 
captain.joco said:
Hello!

I have a MacBook ( purchased in 2006 ), 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, everything else is standard. OS X is version 10.4.11.

...

Maybe this is just outside the topic, I would be very grateful if someone could explain to me what is the main difference between Intel Core Duo, and Intel Core 2 Duo.

Thank you very much in advance.
Click to expand...
The only reason to run MacOS X 10.4.11 is to support the Classic environment. However, Intel-based Macs don't support Classic. If you have an Intel-based Mac, then I know of no reason not to upgrade to MacOS X 10.6. It is Apple's first Intel-exclusive version of MacOS X. As such, it is more efficient than any previous Intel-compatible version of MacOS X.

Long story short--upgrade already!
 
Snow Leopard should run smooth on your MacBook. 2 GB RAM should make it smooth enough.

The neat thing is that the Mac OS X 10.6 discs are cheap too ($29) - and when you eventually (say in a few years) will upgrade to a newer Mac they'll definitely help with the resell value.
 
You can solve the "small hard drive" issue very easily and quickly on your MacBook.
Lots of hard drives for less than $50 - I like the 160GB capacity for an older MacBook. Good balance of capacity and price. Here's one that I have purchased several times - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136391
Replacing the hard drive is very easy, and takes less than five minutes.
In fact, I just installed one in a MacBook of your same era, and installed Snow Leopard. The owner was very pleased with the speed of the MacBook.
 
Thank you all.

In case I decided upgrade to something newer in terms of hardware ( new macbook ), can you in a simple way describe the difference between intel core 2 duo, i3 and i5 processors. How much difference they make in everyday use ( exclude gaming ). Is it worth it ( long term ) going after a macbook (pro) having i5 ( or i7 even ) over intel core due, if not due to gaming, or using any fancy video editing software.

I manly use my computer for programming ( numerical stuff, nothing fancy ), and astrophysical analysis ( often installing linux software with FinkCommander ), but nothing so far uses much CPU ( at least the stuff compatible with my old tiger ).

Thank you.
 
If you stay with the 13-inch screen, there's no choice to move to an i5 or i7 yet.
You have to choose the 15-inch (or 17-inch) to take advantage of the i-series processors. What do you get with that? Here's one of many - The processor can dynamically increase the speed of one or both cores. The Core 2 Duo does not have that capability. So, you get more performance than older processors, even if you exclude gaming.
This page from Apple tells something about the enhancements that you get with the i-series processors, etc. http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/performance.html
 
captain.joco said:
Thank you all.

In case I decided upgrade to something newer in terms of hardware ( new macbook ), can you in a simple way describe the difference between intel core 2 duo, i3 and i5 processors. How much difference they make in everyday use ( exclude gaming ). Is it worth it ( long term ) going after a macbook (pro) having i5 ( or i7 even ) over intel core due, if not due to gaming, or using any fancy video editing software.

....

Thank you.
Click to expand...
You don't a bare processor. You run a system. The GeekBench benchmark score will give you a measure of relative performance for various and sundry systems. Scores of i3-, i5-, and i7-based Macs are listed. You may browse their GeekBench scores here.
 
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