Upgrading an old Mac or buying a new one?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Any computer hardware, even the most powerful, will certainly become outdated. Therefore, from time to time, every owner of an apple computer faces the same question, which is far from always possible to answer the first time: "update your Mac or just buy a new one?" This problem can be especially acute when switching to a new operating system - OS X Lion - which, although compatible with your computer, runs a little slower than Snow Leopard and, thus, causes a lot of inconvenience. So the user is thinking about buying a new MacBook Air or additional RAM.

If your Mac is under two years old, then you should think about installing new components in it

Each of these computers is ideally suited to work on the new OS and fully meets the system requirements of Apple. Most likely, it will run all kinds of programs without any problems and there is no point in thinking about buying a new Mac, unless, of course, you need another computer.

At the first inconvenience in work, you should pay attention to the amount of RAM installed in the Mac, which must be at least 2 GB. But even with the amount of RAM exceeding the minimum requirements twice, I cannot say that I am completely satisfied with the performance of my computer. Especially when working with Safari, which has a new architecture and new memory leaks. Also, before buying, it is worth clarifying how much RAM your computer can easily recognize.

• For information on all-in-one iMacs, visit this page, or use our detailed guide to install purchased memory.
• The process of updating RAM in unibody Mac mini models is a few simple steps, but if you have an old Minic, then our other instruction may be useful to you. You can see the maximum "RAM" value on the Apple support site.
• Replacing memory in a MacBook Pro isn't that difficult either.
• But you will not be able to increase the amount of RAM in the new MacBook Air due to design solutions.

However, contrary to popular belief, this operation does not void the warranty and is authorized by Apple.

The second and, perhaps, the main "bottleneck" of your Mac is the hard drive, the spindle speed of which, depending on the model and year of the computer's release, can be 5400 or even 4200 rpm (which is very little). And although replacing it is much more difficult than increasing the amount of RAM, most straight-handed users should cope with this procedure. Perhaps the owners of the latest generation of iMacs, in the design of which Apple engineers have used a new 7-pin SATA connector, may have problems.

But if you have enough funds, I still recommend replacing your hard drive with a solid-state drive - I'm sure you will immediately feel the difference (by the way, if you have experienced such an upgrade, please tell us in the comments which SSDs you chose). In this case, you will have to make a certain compromise, because such flash drives cannot yet boast of a large capacity for little money.

If your computer is between two and four years old, choosing the right strategy is much more difficult

As we have already found out, 2-year-old Macs should be fast enough and handle all modern software without problems, so if you want, you can simply upgrade it. But the older the computer, the more difficult the choice will have to be made by the owner, because there is no particular sense in investing money in the upgrade. By the time the computer is 3, 5-4 years old, it is worth trying to find finances to replace it.

One way to get money to buy a new Mac is to sell your old one. As a rule, used Apple hardware is priced more expensive than its PC counterparts, but after about the second year of use, the cost of a computer begins to plummet. Naturally, the final amount you can get for an old Mac depends only on your personal business qualities and ability to convince the buyer. But by the beginning of the third "year of life" the fair price of a computer will be about 40-50% of the amount you paid for it in the beginning, which is not bad in itself. The cost of older Macs is dropping even more, so not every user wants to part with a familiar computer for that kind of money.

If your computer is more than four years old, then there's nothing to think about - it's worth collecting money for a new laptop or desktop

By and large, it makes no sense to invest in this Mac anymore. Put the latest software versions on it and you will immediately want to roll back, because even if the operating system and all applications on it are launched, you are unlikely to enjoy the performance.

Sure, you might consider investing in RAM or a faster disk / flash drive, but do you need it? Even if we do not take into account the so-called “planned aging”, after about 5 years you will no longer be able to install the latest updates of the same iTunes 15 on your computer, which will synchronize your ultra-modern iPhone 10. Just continue using such a computer as usual, but it is better not to store any important data on it, because, someday, it may simply not turn on.

I hope that you choose the right strategy for your current Macs, which will allow you not only to work in the latest versions of your favorite programs, but also to enjoy using them:-)

[Based on TUAW]