How do I improve my performance of my MBP (2009) after upgrading to 10.8.2 I'm relatively a novice when it comes to computers. I recently upgraded my MBP to the new OS X 10.8.2 and noticed that it's running much slower now.  I purchased this laptop in the summer of 2009. Here are the basic specs:

Macbook Pro 13-inch, (mid-2009)
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
SATA Disk 160GB


Any recommendations on how to boost its performance would be greatly appreciated. I would love to avoid purchasing a new laptop, unless needed.
I have the same MacBook Pro model.

Upgrading your RAM to 8 GB will help a lot, as the others suggested. You might also look into adding an SSD using something like the Data Doubler by Other World Computing (macsales.com).

Then you could do something cool like this: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57550128-263/how-to-make-a-custom-corestorage-drive-in-os-x/