IO with HDMI and possibly USB 3.0 ports etc etc Ideally, I want to achieve (at least) the specs below as cheaply as possible:Ī graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM The problem is, I don't know which year/models to look out for as well as what my options are in terms of upgradability.

I've seen a few Mac Pro's online selling roughly for about £200, and i'm tempted to pick one up and breathe some new life into it to use as my new desktop computer. For obvious reasons, a new Mac Pro is completely unrealistic, but i've seen a few videos of people taking the older model Mac Pro's and doing some serious upgrades to them.

Now though, i'm looking to own my first desktop computer. I previously bought a unibody Macbook Pro and did the usual upgrades i.e. I'm relatively new to the Apple world of computing, but i'm keen to dive into it a little more (on a budget). My question for any upgraders out there is: Will this be worth the cost and effort? So, I was thinking of upping the memory to 8GB (cost around £80) and installing a 250GB SSD (cost around £68). The system is paging in and out at times and showing the spinning beach ball too but I mostly notice a perceptible lagging in response when I am opening apps, larger documents or re-booting the system. I don't burn DVDs and only rarely burn CDs but this optical drive comes in handy for installing certain software and loading audio CDs to my optical-drive-free iMac. I also find it handy that this computer has an optical drive. I use this computer for travels or when I am doing a few tasks in front of the TV, away from my desk.

I'd like it to be a bit more nimble - enough for MS Office work and simple browsing as the portable extension of my digital life which routinely exists on my much more powerful home office iMac. This machine is getting slow running El Capitan and I'm not surprised at that - it is old after all. I have an old MacBook Pro 2009 2.26GHz with 4GB memory and a 160GB hard disk.

Upgrade macbook pro hard drive 2009