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    2009 Macbook Pro Unibody Upgrades

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by gizmo22, Mar 14, 2012.

  1. gizmo22

    gizmo22 Notebook Consultant

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    Based on comments below, I'm changing this around a bit...

    What's the fastest SSD I could fully utilize in a Macbook Pro 5.2 (17" Early 2009)? Are they going to be able to saturate a 3.0Gbit/s connection?

    Original post below

    ******************************************
    I have a 2009 MBP that will starting getting a little long in the tooth shortly. Is there anything I can do preemptively to help her keep chugging along? She's fine for every day use, and really, for all of my uses. I'd still like more though :).

    • 2009 Macbook Pro
    • 17", 1920x1200
    • T9550, 2.66ghz C2D
    • 8GB G. Skill DDR3, 1333mhz
    • Intel G2 80GB
    • 9600M GT 512 + 9400M

    Are there any processors that could be swapped out for a noticeable improvement, even at the risk of soldering issues?
     
    gizmo22, Mar 14, 2012
    #1
  2. joer80

    joer80 Notebook Evangelist

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    What do you do with your machine? What is it that you wish it did better?
     
    joer80, Mar 14, 2012
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  3. gizmo22

    gizmo22 Notebook Consultant

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    What do I do with it?

    Office, Excel, Databasing, more Excel, internet browsing, killing 5 minutes here and there with "Realm of the Mad God," store photos from DSLR

    What do I wish it did better?

    Everything.



    It's not underserving me by any means right now. It's perfectly sufficient for all I throw at it. I just like to tinker.
     
    gizmo22, Mar 14, 2012
    #3
  4. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    You wouldn't notice the difference if you upgraded to the top of the line Core 2 Duo T9900 (3.06GHz).

    You would have to solder in the CPU. Pretty much guaranteed to fail/kill your laptop unless you have done it before.
     
    namaiki, Mar 14, 2012
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  5. gizmo22

    gizmo22 Notebook Consultant

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    Editing the OP to ask a new question...


    What's the fastest SSD I could fully utilize in a Macbook Pro 5.2 (17" Early 2009)? Are they going to be able to saturate a 3.0Gbit/s connection?
     
    gizmo22, Mar 14, 2012
    #5
  6. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    For an SATA II connection, the fastest speeds you will get from any drive will be about ~250MB/s.
     
    namaiki, Mar 14, 2012
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  7. bogatyr

    bogatyr Notebook Evangelist

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    Most of the speed bonus of an SSD isn't the top end speed, it's the small file speed. Putting an SSD in any laptop which originally had a HDD will cause a night and day difference.
     
    bogatyr, Mar 15, 2012
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  8. saturnotaku

    saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    And the Intel drive the OP already has is one of the best at it. The only "upgrade" would be for more storage space.
     
    saturnotaku, Mar 15, 2012
    #8