Beefing Up A Macbook Pro

danny_bhoy

danny_bhoy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
3,894
Name
Danny
Edit My Images
No
Dipping my toe into the world of Mac and I've inherited an early 2011 Macbook Pro. It currently has 4GB of RAM and an i5 processor. I'm toying with the idea of sticking 16GB in there as well as a decent size SSD. Both of which would come it at around £200.

Wont be used for any really strenuous processing work or anything, more just for when I'm out and about with clients and general admin etc.

A worthwhile investment or won't I see any real benefits?

Cheers.
 
Do it! It'll make a world of difference adding the ram! I use an 8gb ram one for work, but my personal one is 16. Massive difference! Mine are the retina i7 ones
 
i would consider this a worthwhile investment.
A SSD is a must, whether 16gb is a little too high I have no idea as i dont own a MAC. always found 8gb sifficient
 
lawrenceots said:
Do it! It'll make a world of difference adding the ram! I use an 8gb ram one for work, but my personal one is 16. Massive difference! Mine are the retina i7 ones
Click to expand...
goldshirt9 said:
i would consider this a worthwhile investment.
A SSD is a must, whether 16gb is a little too high I have no idea as i dont own a MAC. always found 8gb sifficient
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick replies guys. Thought for the extra £20/30 I might as well go the whole hog and stick 16gb in there.
 
Go for it.

My MBP had 16Gb from day one on the i7 and its no slouch despite now being four years old.
 
First check the maximum supported RAM, some of the models around that time could only do 8GB tops I seem to recall.
 
danny_bhoy said:
Wont be used for any really strenuous processing work or anything, more just for when I'm out and about with clients and general admin etc. A worthwhile investment or won't I see any real benefits?
Click to expand...
•

I am a heavy longtime Mac user and my opinion
is definitely no. That MacBook Pro comes with
enough bells and whistles for normal office work.

Memory hungry applications requiring processing
power would benefit from upgraded RAM but this
will be useless for general purpose and internet.

What would be a good investment, if your laptop
is moving a lot, is the SSD — which won't have to
be too big as doc files are way not so heavy as
RAWs and photos— and the benefit is the solid
state construction and function… without moving
parts, it's all way safer and much faster.
 
I'd go for it. The SSD in particular will make a massive difference to speed.

ETA the addition of a SSD to my Mac Book of the same vintage meant it booted from cold to ready to use in 16 seconds
 
Last edited:
As above..ssd a must..as for the ram I'm sure it can only access a total of 8gb at once.. sure thats why I only ever went for 8gb rather than 16gb..think there was some sort of issue with the processor being slowed down at the time..of course a software update may have cured this now..great machine all the same always nice to inherite one..
 
Last edited:
boyfalldown said:
I'd go for it. The SSD in particular will make a massive difference to speed.

ETA the addition of a SSD to my Mac Book of the same vintage meant it booted from cold to ready to use in 16 seconds
Click to expand...

Good to know.

In simple terms, what are the other benefits of an SSD apart from faster boot time? Will it make applications load faster?
 
danny_bhoy said:
Good to know.

In simple terms, what are the other benefits of an SSD apart from faster boot time? Will it make applications load faster?
Click to expand...

It'll make applications load and respond faster. From a pragmatic point of view I tend to use my LR catalogues on my SSD and files which aren't written often (if every) on external storage. Makes for a very quick process (not benchmarked, but faster the I can work)
 
danny_bhoy said:
Good to know.

In simple terms, what are the other benefits of an SSD apart from faster boot time? Will it make applications load faster?
Click to expand...

More robust, as there is no chance of a platter failure. Undoubtedly has to be worth it for that consideration alone.
 
boyfalldown said:
It'll make applications load and respond faster. From a pragmatic point of view I tend to use my LR catalogues on my SSD and files which aren't written often (if every) on external storage. Makes for a very quick process (not benchmarked, but faster the I can work)
Click to expand...

Great stuff, thanks! Think I'll go with a 500gb SSD and see how I get on :)
 
Agree with the SSD upgrade - makes a huge difference to useability, though not where the processor is being worked hard. As for memory, mine (late 2008) started with 2GB, moved to 4, then to 8. There was a small increase in performance 2-4, no difference 4-8. When I checked, it was using about 3.7GB with 4 available and 4.7GB with 8 available, most of the time.
 
SSD would be a good investment in my opinion but 16GB of RAM seems overkill.

Unless you are noticing that the Macbook is slow to do things because of the RAM being used, its north worth the bother.

8GB should be ample for most needs.

Cheers
 
depends how many RAM intensive apps you plan on having open at the same time.

what does activity monitor show as your RAM usage during its normal use?

in the grand scheme of things these days 16Gb isnt massively expensive however, might be worth it for a bit more futureproofing.
 
The idea of future proofing an early 2011 machine strikes me chuckle a little.
 
Apple regularly under report the supported RAM capacity. Crucial will tell you what will work. :)


SSDs are more robust but harder to recover data from if they do break, so make sure you have a proper backup regime in place.
 
For just a few pounds more I'd go the whole hog to 16GB, it will be a lot more epensive if you go to 8GB now, and then find out you need to do another upgrade. With that and the SSD, the machine will be fantastic to use.
 
I have the same spec and as you say, if it's not for anything heavy, Start with an 8gb stick and add another if it doesn't suit. No point throwing in just for the sake of it.
 
kraftyskillz said:
I have the same spec and as you say, if it's not for anything heavy, Start with an 8gb stick and add another if it doesn't suit. No point throwing in just for the sake of it.
Click to expand...
Sorry but that is bad advice. You really want to run with matched dual sticks. For the sake of just £35 I'd just go to 16GB. You may actually find that it is still a very fast machine and use it more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top