Even if it was technically possible to swap some components to make that notebook somewhat faster, it would be much more expensive overall to take that approach. Invest in a newer albeit still used Macbook and you'll be much happier.
I would recommend Super Duper for backups.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescript... It'll add functionality like Time Machine to !0.4 and to be frank thats the biggest feature missing.
