Upgrading my Mac: Will it increase performance? I have a macbook pro 13" 5,5 late 2009 edition, I use it all the time for taking notes and research at college etc. but I also use it to record music for my band and occasionally I play games on it. I am quite a mobile person and whilst a desktop isn't out of the question I'm a student so don't really have much money. I have recently started to play more games and record more music and I'm becoming increasingly aware of my Mac's low performance when gaming and occasionally when recording so I looked online for ways to increase the performance. 

I've been considering upgrading to a SSD and changing my measly 2GB of RAM to 8GB.

Will this upgrade actually increase the performance during games? How much?
I always recommend an SSD as an upgrade to revitalize just about any system. You will notice a performance increase with an SSD, though it will be mostly load times (we're talking a night and day difference here). You aren't going to increase your frame rate. Sure, it's true that your system doesn't have many more years (months) left in it, but if you buy a good SSD you can move it to your next system.

8GB of RAM isn't too expensive, so it really depends on how long you want to keep the system. Any performance boost you notice may or may not be your imagination.

If it were me, I'd do both because I do like to squeeze the last bit of life out of my electronics (though I would have done these upgrades a few years ago) and if it is generally working for your basic needs why get a new laptop?