Hi I recent got a early 2008 20” iMac for free and was wondering. 1 if I upgrade the ram and put a ssd in will it be usable for light internet use and downloading small files. 2 is there a big difference between 4gb of ram vs 6gb of ram? 4 gb of ram costs 20 bucks and 6 gb costs near 70. Thanks for your help in advance!
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Imac ram help
- Thread starter breyere
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I used to have an iMac early 2009 24" with 4GB of RAM and an SSD.
4GB RAM was enough for all kind of internet surfing, media consumption and word processing.
I have one of those early 2008 20-inch iMacs. I use it all the time for a variety of service tasks. I have Snow Leopard and El Capitan installed on separate partitions, and Windows 10 on another partition. Upgrading to an SSD and going to 4GB RAM makes a lot of difference. Couldn't justify the money for the 6GB, but occasionally look around for a good price for that one 4GB stick. No real luck on that so far. It is probably used most often for Snow Leopard these days.
I boot to El Capitan if I want to do anything useful on internet.
I boot to El Capitan if I want to do anything useful on internet.
Those can be fantastic computers for light tasks like you describe. An SSD is fairly straightforward to install, and 4GB of RAM makes it a fairly solid little computer. I used one daily in my office at school for years, though I was lucky enough to have one of the elusive 4GB sticks for a total of 6. While 6GB will give you more breathing room for running more on it, the machine itself isn’t really worth the asking price for the 4GB stick of RAM.
Also, using the dosdude patcher, these machines run High Sierra beautifully, nearly like a native machine. I’ve had my two early 2008 iMacs (a 20” and a 24”) running HS for years now.
Also, using the dosdude patcher, these machines run High Sierra beautifully, nearly like a native machine. I’ve had my two early 2008 iMacs (a 20” and a 24”) running HS for years now.