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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > MBP Upgrade to Snow Leopard with 6GB RAM

MBP Upgrade to Snow Leopard with 6GB RAM
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Yakusoya
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Mar 14, 2012, 01:00 AM
 
So I realize my MBP is getting old when I'm already 2 OS's behind. I have an early 2008 15" MBP 4,1 with 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and maxed out at 6GB RAM. I've been wanting to upgrade to Snow Leopard. I was reading online and found that people who max out their RAM past the max amount (in this case, 4 GB is the max for my MBP) specified by Apple have been getting kernel panics after upgrading to Snow Leopard. But that was back in 2009 and I haven't found whether that problem had been fixed yet. Does anyone know if I upgrade now, will I get any problems?

Also, if I do upgrade, would you recommend just installing SL over the current OS or do a fresh wipe? Will a wipe also wipe my Boot Camp (or will my current Boot Camp with Leopard be compatible after upgrading to SL?

Thanks for any help! I really appreciate it.
( Last edited by Yakusoya; Mar 16, 2012 at 12:50 AM. )
     
Dex13
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Mar 14, 2012, 03:27 AM
 
     
Yakusoya  (op)
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Mar 14, 2012, 04:02 AM
 
I saw that already but the firmware is for MBP 5,1, not 4,1.
     
Dex13
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Mar 14, 2012, 12:48 PM
 
my bad yak,

totally read the whole article then failed to look at the flow chart on the bottom which makes it completely clear.
after looking at several articles on the apple support boards (surrounding this same exact confusion), it seems many have ceded to using 6GB and report to using SL and it being fine and dandy.

Source_1

..

also if you wipe just your partition (not the boot camp partition) you should be ok, however you'll need someone else to comment on whether or not SL will simply play nicely with your older boot camp partition from leopard.
( Last edited by Dex13; Mar 15, 2012 at 02:49 PM. )
     
imitchellg5
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Mar 15, 2012, 12:26 PM
 
The late-2008 MBP can take up to 8 GB of RAM, which is what I have in mine. I had no issue at all with Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion. Proof:


Edit: Wait, MacBook Pro 4,1 isn't the late-2008 model. That's the early-2008 model (Santa Rosa).
     
Yakusoya  (op)
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Mar 16, 2012, 12:51 AM
 
Thanks for the replies. So with the upgrade disk of SL from Apple, that'll get me to 10.6.0? So I'd have to update again to the most current one or will it automatically be the final version of SL out of the box?

Edit:
Actually, would you even recommend that I upgrade it versus buying a new MBP later on in the future?
( Last edited by Yakusoya; Mar 16, 2012 at 03:44 AM. )
     
P
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Mar 16, 2012, 04:44 AM
 
Your upgrade disk will get you to 10.6.0, after which the system (by default) will update itself to the latest version through Software Update.

Whether you should update now or upgrade later is up to you, but I note that the $30 for Snow Leopard is a far cry from the price of a new MBP. I would just update it as far as it will go.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Mar 16, 2012, 05:22 AM
 
The 4,1 (Early 2008) will only read 6GB RAM. Going to 8GB would be pointless.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
   
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